


Honey Pie - Superbat

by rathavits, taedorokis



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Smallville, Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Alfred is sick, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Bisexual Bruce Wayne, Bisexual Clark Kent, Bittersweet Ending, Bruce Wayne Has Feelings, Bruce Wayne has powers, Bruce Wayne is Not Batman, Bruce gets powers, Bruce is afraid of himself, Bruce is oblivious, Clark Kent is whipped, Clark is comforting, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Fake Dating, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Growing Up Together, High school feelings, Homophobia, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, LGBTQ Themes, Love, M/M, Mild Smut, Multi, Protective Clark Kent, Sad, Supernatural Elements, alternative universe, face claims, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-07 18:55:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 32,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20822198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rathavits/pseuds/rathavits, https://archiveofourown.org/users/taedorokis/pseuds/taedorokis
Summary: - Oh girl don't you stop, don't you stop 'till you get enough honey -Clark Kent is your ordinary High School football player. Awkward as ever, crushing on the most popular girl in school, the usual cliches. It's not until he meets Bruce Wayne that his definition of "love" changes. It's made clear that love is more of a battleground of pain than a cliche happy ending. Bruce Wayne is your ordinary awkward homeschooled teen, but his guardian Alfred has fallen sick and the Kent's have offered to host him in their house until Alfred recovers. What will happen when everything changes for Bruce? What will happen when romance blossoms between these two? Pain? Confusion? Especially when Alfred gets better. What then?





	1. New Boy in Smallville

The atmosphere of the party was already intense, the strobe lights and chattering teenagers were enough to make Clark want to leave. He was popular enough, it wasn’t that people didn’t like him. He was on the football team, a pretty darn essential part of it if he was being honest, he had his connections and essential friendships, but the party scene just wasn’t his thing. He much preferred small hangouts over this. Chloe had dragged him along though and he knew better than to say no to her, he would just come, appease her, and keep his image by appearing at another big party. 

Chloe sticks with him for some time before she’s whisked away by someone Clark didn’t really pay much attention to. He looks around the clearing by the woods before sighing and heading to sit on a log in front of the campfire. He didn’t have much of a need for manufactured warmth, but he didn’t know what else to do. A few of his teammates and some cheerleaders approach him in that time span, the girls asking if he wanted to dance and the jocks asking if he wanted to hang with them after practice next Friday. Clark had really only ever gone to a few of those, they just weren’t for him. 

He’s looking out towards the people dancing only a few feet away from him, they seem so carefree in their drunken states that he can’t help but smile. It’s then that his smile drops, in the group of people there’s a boy he’s never seen around Smallville, and that wasn’t an exaggeration, it was such a small town where everyone knew each other and if you didn’t you had at least heard of that person. Clark’s mouth is left slightly agape, the vision of the dancing boy took his breath away. His curls bounced along with him as he danced. Clark had never seen someone like him before. He wants to go talk to him but when he stands up Chloe comes back, “You wouldn’t believe what Lana just told me!” she says to him as she sits down next to him, pulling him back down by his jacket. 

“What?” he responds, only half paying attention to the conversation after that. He just can’t take his eyes off of the new boy. 

“Hello? Clark Kent, are you listening to me? You’ve never not paid attention to something that has to do with Lana, this is getting kind of weird. Anyway, it’s almost curfew, care to walk me home?” She says before standing up once more. 

“Yeah, sure, of course,” his eyes were still glued to the dance floor as he pushes past the crowd of teenagers to go back home. He drops Chloe off and decides to take his time on his way back to the Kent farm. When he finally arrives he rushes in through the gate and into the house before going to bed. 

The following day at school is just average, he works on _ The Torch _with Chloe and then survives his classes before he has to go to football practice. There’s nothing particularly special about his schedule that day except for his return home. When he goes up the porch stairs he senses someone there, he assumes it’s his mother at first but when he looks up he sees the same curly-haired boy from the party. _ This can’t be fucking happening. Did they _ ** _adopt _ ** _ him? We can’t be brothers, why the fuck is life so unfair? _Clark doesn’t know what to say, he stands there awkwardly for a moment before speaking first. “Hi, I’m Clark. Are you looking for someone? Do you need directions or something?” he asks, finally pushing the confident Clark back through.

Bruce sits there on the porch of Kent’s farm. His head swirling from last night’s events. Alfred was _sick. _ He had to stay with _strangers. _ They weren’t adopting him but they did offer to host him for a while. Alfred has to get better. _ Please get better… _He didn’t want to be at a stranger's farm for too long. It wasn’t that he was ashamed, but nervous instead. 

Bruce startles at someone speaking to him. He looks over at a boy his age standing over him “No, your parents have offered to house me here until my legal guardian gets better from his sickness. I’m not sure how long I’ll be staying with you, but don’t worry. I’m not your brother or whatever you’re dreading,” Bruce replies. He scans the boy's face for a moment and casts him a polite smile. _ Is this their son? _ He was intimidating. A jock at heart it seemed. Oh lord, he was _ definitely _going to get bullied by this guy. He hopes maybe his smile will calm the situation. He really does… 

“Oh, then that’s perfect, I mean- I don’t mean it in a bad way, it’s great having you here welcome, if there’s anything I can do my room is upstairs, first door on the left! Pay a visit sometime,” he has no idea what he’s saying, but somehow he feels as if he’s implying something more than a friendly chat with the kid his parents decided to foster without alerting him beforehand. 

“Are you transferring to Smallville High for the time being? You can hang with my friends and I, I swear we’re not assholes,” he didn’t normally hang out with the rest of the team and so that part was true, but he wasn’t sure what impression he gave off to Bruce given the fact that he seemed a little standoffish and wary of him.

Bruce takes in everything Clark says, a small smile still on his lips. It’s obvious he misjudged him, but Bruce was thankful that his calculations were incorrect about him. He mostly seemed like a dork and nothing intimidating. “I am transferring as a Junior, yes. May I ask what grade you are in? Also, I’d accept the offer on hanging out with you and your friends if I wasn’t mostly into being by myself. I’ve never been much of a person involved in friend groups.”

It wasn’t anything personal. Bruce was a complete loner in situations. He knew Clark was just trying to be nice, but he also didn’t want to burden him. He already was staying with him. “Actually, your mom said I’d be sleeping in your room? She said that you guys didn’t have a guest room so you’d just sleep on your sofa, but I’ll gladly take the sofa… I don’t want to burden you at all.”

“What a coincidence, I’m a junior too,” Clark responds, he’s a little sad when Bruce refuses his offer, but he also doesn’t want to overwhelm the kid, “That’s fine, but if you ever wanna join us there’ll always be a spot waiting for you!” His mom really hadn’t talked to him about any of this and she was about to kick him out of his room too? He doesn’t get upset though and simply accepts it, he doesn’t want Bruce on the couch. 

“You’re fine, you can take my bed I don’t mind the couch,” Clark says with a smile, he wasn’t sure if he’d even fully fit on it but he doesn’t think twice about it. “So are you just gonna hang out here? Do you need help unpacking?” he asks, not leaving him on his own yet. 

“Your kind father had already assisted me with unpacking. I was only out here to think some. If you’d excuse me,” Bruce stands up, brushing off his jeans before turning to go walk inside. Martha was in the kitchen making dinner, and Bruce had instantly known this. He stops himself from going into his room, before turning to look at her cooking. Alfred had always had him help with chores, including cooking when it came to things. Mrs. Kent couldn’t be stuck with all this work, right? He notices Martha struggle to lift a pot with water in it and Bruce quickly ran over to help her. “Hey, hey, I’ve got this Mrs. Kent,” he politely says, taking the pot easily to the stove. 

Martha has a huge smile on her face. “Thank you, Bruce! I’m afraid my arms aren’t as strong as they used to be back in the day. Did I ever mention the time I tried out for the men's wrestling team? I kicked all their asses, but they still didn’t let me in!” She obviously was star struck by Bruce helping her, her eyes following his movements as she hands him things to chop. “I didn’t know you cooked, Bruce… How responsible of you. My boy Clark lacks cooking skills. I didn’t give him the golden thumb.”

“Gee, Mrs. Kent, it’s really nothing… You took me in, I owe you a splendid amount of work. I enjoy helping you as much as I can. Oh, really? A woman wrestler, huh? I bet they simply didn’t want women being better than any of them on the team,” Bruce replies, making Martha laugh loudly, and slap him on the shoulder as he pours a box of noodles into the water that was now boiling.


	2. Lana Lang

Clark lets Bruce go before leaving his backpack in the living room and heading out the back door to help his dad out on the farm. After a short while, they head back into the house to get cleaned up for dinner. He’s washing his hands in the bathroom when out of the corner of his eye he saw Bruce in the kitchen with his mother. He feels that same amazement and attraction towards him that he felt when he first saw him dancing at the party. 

“You two seem like you’re having fun,” Clark points out as he takes some dishes from his mother and helping to set the table, “Bruce is settling down well.” When they’re all settled down he sits next to Bruce, his parents right across from them. 

“How are you liking it here, Bruce? I’m sure it’s a crazy big change from your hometown,” Jonathan asks as he passes Bruce some breadsticks. 

Bruce takes the breadsticks and gives a polite smile at his question. “I’m liking it quite a lot, it’s beautiful here in Kansas. Gotham’s mostly cloudy and dark, not much of a nice atmosphere over there, but it’s my home,” Bruce replied. Martha gives him a confused look when hearing that, but nods.

“It’s home, therefore you can’t wish for it to change, huh? Anyway, I hope you’ll be okay with taking the bus to school with Clark. We don’t really have a limo driver,” she jokes. “Clark shouldn’t mind accompanying you, also, if he abandons you in school… Let me know, dear.”

“Mrs. Kent, I couldn’t burden him with any more tasks, but I assure you I can handle a public school. Even if I haven’t  _ been  _ to one,” he awkwardly mumbled the last part. “Thank you for offering though. You’re always so nice to me.”

“I’d be more than happy to go to school with him and show him the ropes, mom,” Clark says as he looks at Bruce, “You’re not a burden you know, consider yourself a part of the family, you know uh metaphorically, not actually related you know cause- hey, this spaghetti is great.” He stops himself from saying anything that would make the situation seem awkward. 

“Actually do you mind handing me a napkin?” Clark says before noticing the odd look Jonathan was giving him, he simply gives him a smile in return and continues to eat.   


“Clark? Is something wrong? Are you upset that we didn’t tell you about Bruce, did it make you not like Bruce?” Martha asks when noticing how odd Clark was acting.    


“What? No, he’s great, it’s nice to have someone else my age around, you know, besides Lana of course,” Clark responds quickly.

“Who is Lana?” Bruce asks mindlessly. He was just trying to make conversation, besides he had no idea who was who around this town. Jonathan and Martha seem to smile at the question instantly. 

“She’s his crush, dear,” Martha replied. “He’s been pining after her since freshman year, it’s a little sad actually.”

“It’s really sad. I raised my son to be more confident than this,” Jonathan huffed.

Bruce nods slightly at this. “A crush? That’s nice, always such a thrill in high school. At least that’s what Alfred tells me. I would hope he’s telling the truth.”

“Crushes make people behave stupidly in high school, especially men,” Martha giggled.

“Mom!” Clarks says, a blush across his face, “You weren’t even supposed to know tha- I mean she’s not my crush, she’s just my friend.” He didn’t think that his parents would just rat him out like that in front of Bruce, but then again, they were notorious for this stuff. 

“She’s basically the most popular girl at school, homecoming queen and all that stuff. She lives right across from us with her aunt,” he explains to Bruce since that last explanation didn’t really do any justice, “Crushes aren’t worth it, just stay in school, do teenager things, it’s what I do.” He knows that he’s lying but then again he doesn’t want to seem like a loser who  _ still  _ hasn’t asked his crush out after years of liking them.

“Okay…” Bruce replied, raising an eyebrow slightly. He helps Martha clean up before heading to take a shower. It’s not long before he finishes up, throwing on a loose sweater and sweatpants for bed. He walks towards Clark’s room, opening the door before walking in. Clark isn’t there, so Bruce assumed he was downstairs talking to his parents for now.

He plops onto Clark’s bed, getting comfortable before pulling out a book and reading. The book is from Alfred. His eyebrows furrow at the thought of Alfred, and his heart almost clenches.  _ Please don’t leave me.  _ Bruce thinks to himself, before snapping out of his deep thoughts.  _ Just enjoy the book, Bruce, don’t be ungrateful that you’re here. _

After doing some homework Clark gets ready for bed and goes up to his room. He knocks lightly on his door since he knew Bruce was in there and he didn’t want to catch him at a bad time. It feels weird since it’s his own room, but he doesn’t dwell on it too much as he opens the door and walks in before sitting on his couch. “Hey,” he says before noticing that Bruce seems upset.  _ How sad was that book? _

“Is everything okay?” he asks, a concerned tone in his voice, “Is the bed not good enough or is the book too sad or something?” He’s at attention, he can’t seem to ignore Bruce, most people would be mad or just forget their roommate existed in a situation like this, but Clark wasn’t. He was kind of happy to have him here and not as some mysterious stranger that he happened to see at a party one night.

Bruce sits up at Clark coming in. His eyes scanned him for a moment before he gives a slight snort. “No need to worry, I’m fine. All part of the book, it’s quite sad,” he lies, putting it away. “Anyway, bonne nuit, Clark,” Bruce politely says before getting underneath the covers and trying to sleep. 

He feels slightly bad for lying about how he felt. Bruce was used to never opening up to people. Alfred had always raised him to try and move on from his parents' death, but it was always impossible for him. His feelings were hidden deep inside him, and the only person who truly knew everything about him would never not be Alfred.

Clark panics internally both confused and slightly more attracted to Bruce after this.  _ He knew french? _ In his panic, he can’t think of a response other than, “Oui, oui to you too, Bruce,” causing him to facepalm once Bruce is under the blanket. Clark eventually gets over this and falls asleep, his alarm waking him up the following morning. 

He stumbles around his room, for a moment forgetting that he was sharing a room with someone else and mumbling, “I’m literally the fastest person alive. Why do I have to get up this early?” It’s not until he tries to leave the room that he bumps into a much shorter body and he realizes that Bruce was still there. He thought that yesterday had been a fever dream. 

“Fuck,” he mutters before coughing and speaking up, “H-how much of that did you hear?” 

Bruce had already gotten up earlier. He was walking back to the room to grab a few things before hearing Clark mumbling about being the ‘fastest person alive.’ Clark seems shocked to still see him there, but nevertheless Bruce still answers his question. “All of it,” Bruce simply says before walking past him to grab something, he’s also holding an apple that he’s eating casually. “The bus is outside, your mother had left food on the table but I doubt you have time to eat it, however, I did save you an apple to eat.” 

“Shall we?” Bruce gestures to go to the bus. He’s nervous to say the less. The two approach the bus, and immediately Bruce is stared down by people. Some flirtation looks, others judging him. It’s almost instant that Bruce is separated from Clark, one of his jock friends pulling him to sit beside him and yell about Lana looking ‘hot'. Bruce scrunches up his nose at this, before sitting all the way in the back.

Clark tries to pull away from them but ends up being forced to stay, “Come on guys, I was supposed to stick with Bruce. He’s new here,” he tries to protest. 

“We were all new once, he’ll find his way around. We’re your bros, Kent,” Jason says as he pushes Clark to sit down by the shoulder, “Besides, you live with him, don’t you? You got on the bus at the same stop. What is he, adopted?” 

“I’m the only adopted one, he’s just staying with us until he can go back home, just don’t fuck with him, leave him alone,” he explains before ignoring the rest of the chatter and looking out the window. He casts occasional glances at Lana who’s sitting a few rows ahead with Whitney and at Bruce just to make sure that he’s okay. 

It’s soon after that Bruce handles finding his classes by himself. He settles in quite well, ignoring people and sticking to himself like always. Bruce heads over to lunch once it rings, getting bumped into a million times. He heads over to the only free table there is, next to some girl with a brown ponytail. “Mind if I sit here? My name’s Bruce, I am new here.”

“Of course you can sit here! I am Diana, nice to meet you. Oh, boy, trouble in paradise,” she huffed when seeing Lana and her boyfriend have an argument. “They’re always bickering, poor Kent over there thinks he’s had a shot with her since diaper years. It’s a little sad.” Bruce looks over at Clark, noticing him seem upset.  _ Why is he coming over to me?  _ “Did he hear me talking about him?” Diana jokes.

Clark frowns when hearing Lana and Whitney fighting over her hanging out with Clark a few days ago, she always friend-zoned him but Whitney seemed to hate him despite her explanations of their relationship. He sighs, he was tired of this shit and Whitney’s insecurities making him take his dislike towards Clark out on Lana. He stands up and walks over to where Bruce is sitting with Diana, she never really had company over but it wasn’t because she was unpopular, she just hated people in general, it was a choice. 

“Hi, Diana!” he says when he’s finally standing in front of them, “Do you mind if I pull Bruce aside for a minute? I really need to talk to him.” He reaches out for Bruce’s hand so that he can pull him aside and take him into the nearest bathroom with him. 

He checks to see that there’s no one in there and finally explains his plan to a confused Bruce, “Okay, so, my parents were right. I do have a crush on Lana and I’ve been making progress but I still can’t get her to dump her asshole of a boyfriend. Would you help me with something?” He explains, “Do you think you could be my fake boyfriend, you know just for a week, to get her jealous so I can finally have a shot?” 

Bruce awkwardly stands there, listening to Clark explain his plan. He almost chokes on his saliva at his final question.  _ Fake  _ being his boyfriend? What the hell was this? Are school’s always this fucking dramatic? Bruce stares at him for a moment, processing the situation. “How would dating a boy make her jealous? It would only cause an uproar of homophobia and for her to possibly assume you are into men,” Bruce gives him a slow blink.

He sighs when remembering how the Kent’s were giving up a lot to house him. He had to be polite and be considerate. Clark also gave him his room too… “Fine, okay, sure, I’ll be your fake boyfriend or whatever… Just, if this doesn’t work out and Lana simply pushes you away further. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Clark. Making someone you like jealous over you is petty and childish… Now, what exactly do you want me to do?”

“I don’t mind being seen dating a guy, I’m into men too,” he winks, “If that happens then I guess I’m screwed but, whatever, it’s worth a shot.” Clark didn’t know if he was doing this to see what it would be like to date Bruce or to really get Lana jealous, but for the sake of his almost decade long crush, he decided that Lana was the case.

“Just do boyfriend things, you know? I’ll sit next to you on the bus and at lunch and hold your hand and cheesy stuff like that. You can be affectionate, if you’re comfortable, I’m not gonna force you to do anything. So let’s just get things you’d be okay with, out of the way. Would you be alright with kissing, not all the time, of course, but just enough to make them think you were my long-distance boyfriend. That way they won’t ask you why you suddenly came over here,” he says, it’s like the man doesn’t even breathe.

“Listen, casanova, I’ve had a relationship maybe once when I was a child, but I am not naive to it. I wouldn’t agree to this if affection made me uncomfortable. I may not display it much, but I don’t  _ dislike  _ it. Also, I guess,” Bruce sighs, “I guess you can kiss me. Just, I really hope you’re not making a mistake. I’m supposed to be living with you for who knows how long. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“What’s the first mission anyway? Are we going to part ways now or what? Lunch isn’t even over yet,” Bruce points out.  _ I am so sorry, Alfred, you would kill me for agreeing to this. The most useless form of manipulation is doing this to someone.  _ Bruce thinks to himself, already slightly regretful, but he snaps out of it. 


	3. It'll Be Over Soon, Right?

“Come over and sit with me,” Clark says, he reaches out to indicate that he wants to hold his hand and leads them both out of the restroom. He goes back to where he normally sat with the jocks. 

“Oh shit, Kent, did you just bag the new kid? I had no idea you were gay, but like whatever you do you, bro,” Jason is the first to notice the two holding hands, this calls more attention to them from the other players. 

“No, we’ve been dating for a while now, we met at a science camp and we’ve been in a long distance relationship,” Clark says, his voice sounds very proud, it’s so good, in fact, that even he’s starting to believe that he really likes Bruce romantically, “Isn’t that right?” he says and turns towards Bruce. It’s then that he notices Lana’s attention on him and immediately pulls Bruce into a kiss before he can answer, his eyes locking with hers before he pulls away. 

Bruce wasn’t paying attention. After they sat down he had been spacing off and letting Clark talk his ass off. It wasn’t until Clark turned towards him that his eyes went from looking at the wall, to straight back at Clark. He’s about to question what he had just asked him, because he hadn’t heard what he had said. He’s interrupted when Clark pulls him into a kiss. His entire face burns red instantly, mostly because it was unexpected.  _ I thought he meant later on about kissing! Not  _ ** _now! _ **

When Clark pulls away, he’s beat red and instantly covers his face with his hands. Jesus christ, so much for being  _ unbothered.  _ To be fair, Bruce hadn’t had his first kiss since he was twelve. It was an accident on top of that. The entire situation was overwhelming, but he noticed Lana give a confused look towards them.  _ What was Clark fucking doing?  _

Clark has a smug smirk on his face, there were still a few minutes left for lunch and so he puts an arm around Bruce’s shoulder, pulling him closer, “Anyway, where were we earlier? Oh yeah, Baker was talking about respecting women and kicking Thomas for not doing that.” The conversation continues up until the bell rings, Clark stands up, taking Bruce with him, “I’ll walk you to class,” he says, his arm still around his shoulders. 

He says goodbye to Bruce at the door and the two continue with their day. During passing periods Clark goes out of his way to find Bruce and walk him to his next class. At the end of the day they make their way towards the buses and sit in the same seat this time. Clark’s hand is on top of Bruce’s, his thumb tracing circles into his hand.

Bruce didn’t know how to feel the entire day. He was either confused or overwhelmed by Clark’s constant presence. He was so used to being  _ alone _ that he forgot what it was like to have someone nagging beside him 24/7. It’s not until the bus that something changes. Clark’s holding his hand. and it’s an ordinary feeling. Nothing but a show, it’s not until Bruce hits a realization.

_ Nobody could see their hands unless they were beside them. Why is he even rubbing circles around my hand as if he’s truly being affectionate?  _ Bruce’s face darkens red when he looks down at their hands. The feeling of someone’s thumb rubbing his hand was… Soothing. His eyes feel droopy now from Clark doing this, and his head instantly falls against the bus window, which bangs his head around to the point that he moves in his drowsiness to lay his head on Clark’s shoulder. 

Clark smiles softly at this, it was unintended, but it just makes this all seem more real. He didn’t realize that he was rubbing circles into the side of Bruce’s hand, his hand just felt the warmth and began to subconsciously move. He puts an arm around Bruce’s shoulder to make sure he didn’t slip around when the bus moved. He didn’t really think much of it, wasn’t this what boyfriends were supposed to do? He notices Lana in the seat across from them, her expression is unreadable to Clark but he knows something is working. 

When they get to their stop, Clark wakes Bruce up gently and they get off the bus. Lana is waiting for them at the bottom of the bus steps. “I didn’t know you were dating someone, Clark? I thought we were friends, why didn’t you tell me?” she asks.

“I don’t have to tell you every aspect of my life,” Clark retorts, he doesn’t quite know what to do, but he also can’t give up the act, “We didn’t want to make anything public until we met is all. We should get home, we’ll see you around.” Clark drags Bruce towards the front gate of Kent Farm, they hold hands until Lana’s gone and finally go inside after sitting around on the porch for a bit. When they’re in the house, they return to their casual selves.

“You’re hurting her feelings, Clark. This is all fake anyway,” Bruce tells him before walking off. He doesn’t know why he’s so against this. It’s not that he despises helping Clark, but something about being this petty is useless to Bruce. He pulls out his homework and starts to do it, his mind on anything but what had happened. It’s not until his phone rings that he dives down to get it from the bed. “Alfred?!” He says excitedly. He doesn’t notice Clark coming in as he lays on the bed on the phone. “No, everything is going okay, I just haven’t heard from you…” 

“I’m sorry, Master Bruce, I’ve been sleeping mostly and trying to get better for you. I’m still not doing completely well, if I am to be honest,” Alfred replies.

Bruce’s face shifts to a sadder look. His voice chokes slightly, “Y-you’re not?”

“I’m sorry, Master Bruce, are you crying?” 

“No,” Bruce whispers, “I’m not crying.” It’s not until too late that Bruce lets out a soft sob. “I’m sorry I let you down. I should’ve prevented this.”

“You can’t prevent my sickness, Master Bruce,” Alfred says fondly. “I… I love you very much, sir, but I must go.”

Bruce nods, his tears rolling down his cheeks. “I love you too, Alfred. Please get better for me. I don’t know how long I can handle being this lonely.”

Clark had just casually walked into his room after doing a few of his chores, he didn’t know who Bruce was talking to but it got very awkward, very quickly. He didn’t want to make a commotion and scare Bruce more by making noise while leaving so he just awkwardly sat on the couch and tried to mind his business by scrolling through his texts. 

He hadn’t expected Bruce to cry but it made him feel a pang of guilt in his chest. Bruce clearly loved his legal guardian and he was clearly feeling out of place here. It hurt him a little to discover that he really wasn’t doing well in making sure that Bruce didn’t feel alone, but he still doesn’t say anything. He was still selfishly going through with their arrangement for reasons that he didn’t even know. He didn’t even know why he liked Lana, but she was always just  _ there _ . He had never been more confused in his life, but he still wanted to feel like he was in control of something at least, and that was his future with her. 

Bruce hangs up after a moment, he quickly wipes his tears away. “Bonne nuit, Clark,” he sighs before taking off his sweater and fumbling around his suitcase for a t-shirt. He realizes that he left his nightshirt in the bathroom, and quickly stands up to walk out of the room to get his shirt. Bruce comes back with it in hand and plops back onto the bed, ruffling his own hair.

He pulls out his homework and starts working on it, forgetting that he had it. Bruce absentmindedly forgetting to put on the shirt, but it’s not like he needed it. It was hot as shit in Clark’s room. 

Clark is sitting on the couch while finishing up his calculus work when Bruce walks back in and simply sits back on his bed, tossing the shirt aside. “Do I need to turn on the air conditioner? Not that I don’t mi- I mean i don’t mind turning it on,” he says after clearing his throat. Something about this made his heart race. He didn’t recall feeling like this around Lana recently. Maybe he was just concerned that Bruce didn’t catch heatstroke. 

Had he made things awkward? He couldn’t have, he had played that off really well. He really needed to stop getting this nervous around Bruce. “How were your classes today? No one picked on you right? Because if they did just say the word,” he questions, his tone getting a little protective towards the last sentence.

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” Bruce replies. He raised an eyebrow at Clark’s splatter of words. “My classes were alright, I suppose. I thought they’d be more overwhelming, but they’re not too bad. Also, no, I wasn’t picked on. Just the rumors of us being involved with one another. I can handle myself as well,” Bruce simply states.

“I’m going to sleep now,” he throws on his nightshirt before getting underneath the covers. His eyes slowly droop and he soon falls asleep. Next morning is the same schedule, Clark wakes up later than him and Bruce hands him the breakfast he missed if anything was left. Bruce noticed the bus, and quickly finishes putting his stuff together. “Clark, bus is here!”

Clark heads down the stairs and takes the food from him before taking his hand once they were out on the porch. The two run towards the bus and get on, quickly finding their seat. “What’s your deal, Clark? You were a total stranger yesterday and now you’re dating someone that isn’t Lana Lang? Weird,” Chloe whispers across the aisle.    


“Missed you too, Chloe,” Clark says before motioning to Bruce, “Chloe, this is Bruce. Bruce, this is Chloe Sullivan. Tell me if you need to find her mute button.” They had always had the kind of friendship where they could afford to tease each other about certain things, neither of them were sensitive enough to be completely hurt by it. 

Bruce spares her a polite smile. “Nice to meet you, Chloe,” he takes her hand to shake. She gives Clark a weird look before her face breaks into a smile.

“Clark, he’s fucking adorable, talk later. Lana and I are gonna chat,” she quickly sits next to Lana who also got on the bus from the stop. She spared Bruce and Clark a look, one hinting of confusion. Bruce looks back at her, blinking rapidly when seeing her look away in a sad way.  _ I don’t like this.  _

Clark watches as Chloe leaves, his eyes lingering on Lana for a moment before he looks away. For some reason the satisfaction he got from her confusion yesterday wasn’t there today. He feels almost wrong about it, but he thinks that it’s probably just because it’s actually working.  _ This would be over soon? Wouldn’t it?  _ He’d finally have the girl of his dreams, except, Clark didn’t know if that was the case anymore.


	4. Too Manipulative For Bruce

“What’s wrong?” Clark asks Bruce, he looked like he had just kicked a puppy, “Did you forget something? I can get off at the next stop and get it, it’s no big deal.” His eyes are full of concern and he didn’t know if he was faking anymore. This was just himself shining through and not the asshole jock who wanted to make a girl jealous enough to break up with her boyfriend, and date him instead.

Bruce looks over at him and nods. “Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be okay?” He lies. The two get off the bus and Bruce quickly heads to his class with Clark, waving goodbye and sparing a fake toothy grin before going into his class. He sits there beside Diana, a new friend of his. She raises an eyebrow when seeing something off.

“Is something wrong, Bruce?” Diana asks, concern in her voice.

“Can I be honest with you? You can’t tell anybody,” Bruce whispers.

“Of course!” Diana insists.

Bruce takes a deep breath. “I’m not actually dating Clark,” Diana gasps at this, “Yesterday, he pulled me aside because he wanted to ask me for a favor. For some stupid reason he wants the girl he likes to get jealous of him with me. So, he asked me if I could fake date him for a week. I don’t mind helping him, but what I don’t like is hurting Lana’s feelings. She seems sort of upset that I’m “dating” Clark.”

Diana nods slightly at this. “I’m going to kill Clark, come on, we still have fifteen minutes. He’s being a cliche manipulative jock, and we’ve gotta snap him out of it.”

“I still have a wee — ”

“ — Bruce, you’ll literally uncomfortable with it!” 

“I’m not, I just don’t think it’s right!”

“Hence, you being uncomfortable!” Diana huffed.

“It’s lite-”

“-Hey, it’s Clark’s faggot of a boyfriend,” Whitney laughs as he passes by the room in the hall. 

“Can you at least punch that guy?” Diana sighs.

“You’ve read my mind,” Bruce grumbled before standing up and walking out of the class. He's never really been much for confrontation, but sometimes it was necessary.

“Hey, Clark, your faggot boyfriend is walking towards me! What is he going to do? Kiss me? Haha!” Whitney laughed.

Bruce continues to walk towards him before he punches him in the face. “Last time I checked, faggot is an insult when coming from a straight person. You’re not fucking allowed,” Bruce warned, grabbing Whitney by the earlobe and tugging him down to his level, causing Whitney to yelp in pain. It’s not long before another jock comes by and pins Bruce harshly into a locker.

“Get the fuck off him, faggot! He obviously ain’t into men!”

Bruce rolls his eyes. Diana walks out with Lana now, a confused look on Lana’s face when seeing her boyfriend doing this. Bruce winces when Whitney punches him as his friend holds him. He keeps punching Bruce in the face until pulling away, narrowing his eyes when seeing blood running down Bruce’s nose. “Say shit again, I dare you, smartass!”

  
“Shit again,” Bruce coughs out, before giving him a bright smile. 

  
“What the fuck?” Whitney pulls back. The jocks start to laugh at Whitney, calling him a loser for making the new kid seem badass compared to him.

  
“Whitney, stop!” Lana screeches, running towards Bruce and cupping his cheeks in concern. “Let’s get you to the nurse,” she glares at Whitney, not noticing Clark coming up. Bruce scrunches up his nose in confusion and pain when someone touches his face. “Bruce?! Bruce? You with me?” Lana repeats, Bruce can’t even answer before he collapses onto the ground. 

“Bruce!” Diana yelled.

Clark arrives just in time to keep Bruce from hitting the ground too harshly, he lifts him up before taking him to the nurse’s office. He wanted to make Whitney’s life a living hell for this, but it seemed like Bruce and everyone else had handled that already. The nurse is handing some kid a bottle of water and a half-melted ice pack when Clark practically crashes into the room. “There was a fight, and he got hurt and now he’s unconscious,” Clark says urgently as the nurse helps to set up the bed they had in the office and instructs Clark to set Bruce down. 

She tends to the cuts on Bruce’s face, sterilizing them and putting small bandaids on them and leaves to the main part of her office, leaving Clark with Bruce. Clark felt horrible, he had promised not to let Bruce get in any trouble and he had failed at that. What the hell was he supposed to tell his mom? After some time he notices Bruce begin to wake up, “I should have been there, it shouldn’t have happened in the first place,” Clark says, “You-you held your ground really well though, everyone seems to love you, I shouldn’t have underestimated you.” 

Bruce shrugs at this. “Lana is nice,” he comments. “I don’t think we need to fake date anymore. I saw her expression when looking at Whitney, I doubt they’re together anymore. Now if you excuse me, my face has some marks but my legs work perfectly fine.” Bruce stands up before walking out of the nurse's office. For some reason, he felt lighter on his feet. It was around lunchtime, so Bruce heads to the lunchroom and sits beside Diana. He’s taken aback when people crowd into the table with him, giving his looks of admiration. “Uh…” Bruce shifts his eyes to look at everyone surrounding him.

“My name’s Harley, nice to meet ya’!” She reaches her hand for Bruce to shake. “Oh, I love ya’ cologne!” Her blond hair was slightly messy, and she wore a slightly dirty pink hoodie. “That’s Ivy, my girlfriend! The rest of these guys are my buddies. Hal is the cocky one of the group, Barry’s the nice one of the group, and then there’s Diana, of course. We used to hang out, but our schedules were fucked around.”

“Why are you all sitting with me?” Bruce questions. He frowns when seeing how most of them seemed to be wearing old clothing. 

“You’re the first person ever to stand up to Whitney and the jocks. Why wouldn’t we want to sit with you? We were hesitant at first when seeing you with that jock Kent. Now after seeing you punch out his friends, I doubt you’re too close to him.”

“He tried to have us fake date. It was all pointless, but it’s over now. I’m just going to distance myself from him. If you’d like, we can all be friends? I’m new to the concept of it, actually,” Bruce smiles shyly.

“Hell yeah!” Hal exclaims out of nowhere. “Sorry, I was distracted this entire time, but of course we can be friends!”

“Are you all doing anything after school?” Bruce hints.

“No,” they all say in unison.

“Why?” Harley asks.

Bruce smiles wider. “You think you’d like to go shopping with me for some clothes? I’ve been trying to convince myself that I am someone I’m not. I’m alright with being seen as the rich kid. It’s part of who I am, as a Wayne, I have to take pride in it. Also, I've always wanted to try hanging out with friends...”

“You’re a Wayne?! Dude, you’re a fucking billionaire?” Barry blurts before covering his mouth.

“Yeah, I thought I'd be recognized but I’m kinda glad I am not,” Bruce chuckles. 

Diana smirks at this. “Shopping it is, also Smallville is too small to recognize famous people. Oh, Lana sat beside Clark. His petty manipulation worked.”

“Seems so,” Bruce adds, sighing in frustration.


	5. I Don't Like You

Clark is slightly taken aback when Lana sits down next to him, “I broke up with Whitney, I’m sorry he was such an asshole to your boyfriend. Hey, speaking of him? Why is he not sitting with us?” she asks, confused. 

“I’m sorry to hear that, and it’s not your fault for you to be apologizing,” he was speaking to Lana but for some reason kept glancing over at Bruce, “Oh, he said he wanted some space,” Clark says, but it just doesn’t feel right lying. He can’t go back on what he said though, can he? Lana would hate him too, “Didn’t really work out,” he sighs. 

“That’s too bad. Maybe we can watch a movie tonight? Help each other out through our breakups?” Lana suggests.    
  
“That sounds great, we haven’t hung out in a while,” he replies, he’s excited to say the least. He doesn’t really see it as a date though, but maybe his perception would change when it came down to it. In reality, Lana didn’t seem like the kind of person Clark really needed, she was this almost unattainable ideal, but he couldn’t seem to wrap that around his head. The lunch bell eventually rings and despite him and Bruce dating for a day and a half, it felt weird to not hold his hand and walk him to class.  _ Did he miss Bruce? _

Meanwhile, Bruce ordered an uber to take the crew to the mall after school. Harley was the first priority, and they managed to repair her hair that was damaged from incorrect dying. Her now messy hair was wavy and taken care of. Bruce took them all to buy a few outfits too, the group all huddling together as they walk with bags from shopping.

They all seemed happy to be hanging out together. Bruce in the middle as they all walk together with wide grins. They soon uber back to the Kent farm and wave Bruce goodbye. Bruce hugs them before leaving, then quickly runs inside to see Clark and Lana together on the couch. He sees that they were leaning close to each other, seemingly about to kiss. Lana jumps away when seeing Bruce, her face full of guilt. “Oh,” Bruce states, almost disappointed in Clark that he went through his manipulation. He shakes his head, a look of disappointment before he runs upstairs. 

“I’m going to go home, there’s something else going on here and I really don’t think I’m helping by being here. I’ll see you around, Clark,” Lana says before standing up and leaving the house. Clark sits there in shock for a moment, lost in his thoughts about the situation. He follows Bruce upstairs, “Bruce?” he says when he walks through his door, closing it behind him. 

“Are you okay?” he asks in a soft tone, “Why did you look so upset?” He hopes it’s not for the reason he’s thinking, had he really fucked him over when they pretended to date and made him actually like him? “Are you jealous? Look I’m sorry for dragging you into that, but if you actually like me, I don’t know what to say,” he was absolutely off the mark by so much. 

Bruce looks over him in utter shock. He slowly stands up and walks towards him, his eyebrows furrowing. How could someone be so fucking full of themselves? “You really think that I like you?! Clark, I liked you as my friend, well, sort of, friend. What is wrong with you? Why did you manipulate some girl to break up with a dude? How would that provide you happiness?! Why would you involve me?! You think I’m jealous?!” Bruce steps closer.

“I am not  _ jealous _ , Kent. The last thing I'd ever feel towards this situation is jealousy. Disappointment, disapproval, disgust, those are what I feel towards you. You manipulated a girl. You don’t truly feel anything for her if you’re willing to lie to her! You should be ashamed of yourself, Clark!” Bruce slaps him in the face before storming downstairs. His morals were always against doing this to someone.

Clark stands there in shock, not because the slap had hurt, but because Bruce was brave enough to call him out. “Fuck,” he mutters to himself, “What the fuck have I done?” He lets Bruce simmer down a bit before they have to go to dinner.

“Lana wasn’t going to stay over for dinner? Did you scare her off, Clark? I heard arguing,” Martha asks when he reluctantly sits down at the table. Bruce scoots his chair away from him and that same feeling of guilt hits him. 

“Her aunt needed her for something,” he says quickly, “Can I be excused? I have a project due tomorrow and I just really need to get it done, goodnight!” he says before getting up and heading towards the barn. It was usually where he went when everything was getting hectic. 

It’s not long until Bruce ends up walking that direction. He assumed Clark went there, and he felt bad for lashing out. He walks up the steps of the barn, spotting Clark sitting on a hay bale. “I’m sorry,” Bruce mumbled. This wasn’t the best choice of words, but he felt bad for overreacting slightly on his part. He usually was a timid person.

Bruce stands beside Clark who was sitting, he glances around for a moment. “You did make a slight mistake, but we all do. I make mistakes too… All the time actually. That’s part of why I am here right now, because of a mistake. I’m sorry, I’m not really helping,” he starts to turn away to leave.

Clark rushes to grab a hold of Bruce’s wrist, “No, please stay. I kind of deserved that,” he says. Bruce really has no reason to be apologizing if he’s being honest. He pauses for a moment before speaking again. 

“I have to be honest with Lana, I know she’ll hate me after, but right now I don’t think that’s the worst thing that could happen. I kind of don't know if I really do like her or I just think I do because it’s what I’m used to. I was close to asking her out...but I froze and couldn’t say anything because it didn’t feel right, not because I was nervous. It’s kind of funny,” he mumbles that last part, he didn’t know what he was doing anymore.

“You don’t have to explain your actions to me. It’s not like we were actually dating, don’t worry. I’m unaffected as long as nobody gets manipulated or hurt. Now that I know you understand what you did wrong, I’ll respect your decisions. I know it’s not much coming from the guy who stole your bed, but if there’s anything I can do to at least make you feel slightly better, let me know.” 

He gently pulls his wrist away and starts to walk down the steps. Bruce knew he didn’t have to offer anything, but as usual, he had outspoken himself. Whenever he blurted things out, he always ended up offering something kind. It was a tiring habit, but he couldn’t help it. 

Bruce was kind, too kind if Clark was being honest. It was the kind of nice that people could easily take advantage of but he knew when to stop that from happening. Clark had learned that Bruce wasn’t afraid to call people out or stand his ground. He spends some time looking up into the stars through the telescope until he’s tired. He walks into the room where Bruce is already asleep and quietly settled down on the couch before falling asleep as well. 


	6. Let's Start Over As Friends

The following morning they wait for the bus, Lana sits in the empty seat of the bench beside Clark, “Did you talk to him? It seemed pretty tense last night. Is it really over for good?” she asks, concerned, “I’m sorry, I was hoping you’d last a while.” 

The guilt rises in Clark’s chest again, he can’t continue letting Lana believe that they were actually together, it would affect him more than telling the truth. “Actually, I have to tell you something,” he begins to confess, “We were never really dating. I convinced him to do it so that I could get you jealous. I thought it was a good idea at the time, but it never was.” 

“Clark...you’re saying that you _ used _Bruce to do what? To make me break up with my boyfriend and expect me to run into your arms? He literally got punched because of something you made him do out of spite. The sad part is that I actually really liked you, but it’s like I don’t even know you anymore,” Lana says, the bus coming to a stop, “I really hope you get a grip.” She storms off, it was only fair that she was angry, Clark’s true motives weren’t exactly the best. 

Bruce soon walks over to him after seeing Lana angry. He stands beside Clark without a word, but he does reach out and gently pat Clark on the back. “You did good, I’m proud of you,” Bruce whispers before getting into the bus. He notices Harley there and sits beside her, the two talking about yesterday’s trip.

“How ya’ feeling?” Harley asks.

“I could be better. I’m worried about Clark,” Bruce explains.

“Hmm, that’s his problem. Whatever he did, he’s gotta solve.” 

Bruce notices Clark sitting alone and sighs. “Somehow I still feel like I shouldn’t just let him go through this alone. He made a petty mistake that every young guy has thought of doing or actually done. Harley, I’ll sit with you at lunch, okay?” He quickly changes bus seats and plops beside Clark. “You seemed lonely.”

“Hey,” Clark says when he feels Bruce sit beside him. Yeah, Lana was mad at him, but he had expected it. He looks over at Bruce, he hadn’t noticed that he had pulled out his more expensive turtleneck today until now, “You’re really embracing yourself, aren’t you? I’m glad to see you’re getting along well.” 

“What about your friends, though? You didn’t have to come and comfort me, I’ll be fine, but I appreciate it,” Bruce really was beyond kind, he didn’t have to talk to Clark after all this, he could have just let it pass as he spent time with his new friends. Yet, here he was, sitting next to him, it made his heart race and stomach clench in a way he’d never felt before.

“You’re my friend too,” Bruce retorts. “I’m not here comforting you, that would be ridiculous and unnecessary. You’re aware of your doings and that’s final. I’m not going to take them personally if you clearly regret doing them. However, do you truly still feel admiration for Lana in that way? Or are you over it? I’d understand if not, but I hope you don’t interfere with her feelings ever again,” Bruce calmly states.

“Embracing myself has never been hard. I know who I am,” Bruce admits. He smiles at Clark before looking out the bus window in boredom. Despite Harley wanting him to sit with her, he felt bad seeing Clark alone and it wasn’t fair for him to suffer alone. Clark was a good person. _ Hopefully. _

“Thanks,” he replies with a grateful smile, “I don’t know, I kind of started feeling weird about my crush like maybe she wasn’t really my crush? She’s cool and all but maybe she really just was my friend. I really don’t plan on trying to win her over romantically until I figure out what I want,” Clark explains. 

He notices that after a bit Bruce seems to be bored and he doesn’t know if it’s because he just sucks at entertaining or because there’s not much to see in Smallville. “If I could make the fields more entertaining, believe me, I would,” he teases Bruce a little, “But plenty of weird stuff happens around here, Chloe’s got it all documented.” 

“I’m sure, but I don’t mind being here. Also, I wish I could relate to that feeling. I haven’t had a proper crush since I was seven years old, but even then I wasn’t truly aware of the concept. Relationships just never seen to be something I craved. Mostly because I wasn’t in public schools,” Bruce explained. “I’m not bored at all with Smallville. People here are strange, but I like the charm.”

He doesn’t know what to say for a moment before punching Clark gently in the arm. “Punch buggy,” he smiles brightly at him. It’s an attempt to make things less serious. Even Bruce didn’t feel like having a serious moment. He wanted Clark to feel slightly better too. He hadn’t done that for himself.

Clark was distracted by Bruce’s face, he was taking in his expressions and the curves and dips of his features as he spoke, when he punches him he’s snapped out of his thoughts by the sudden contact, “Hey, that’s not fair!” he exclaims, “I’ll get you back though.” He probably wouldn’t, while he could control his strength, he wasn’t always the best at it and he didn’t want to hurt Bruce.

“There are some pretty cute girls, or people, whatever you like, here in Smallville. Maybe someone will catch your eye? Or not, maybe you’re not looking for that, I don’t know,” he doesn’t know why talking about relationships with Bruce makes him fumble and fuck up his words. It’s almost like the mental version of the things Kryptonite makes him feel and it’s making him beyond confused.

Bruce chuckles at this. “Not yet, but then again I’ve never been one to develop crushes first,” he adds. “Who knows though,” he shrugs. The bus soon arrives and Bruce waves goodbye to Clark but pauses. “Oh, crap, I forgot to mention they switched up my schedule since I was stuck into full classes or electives I wasn’t interested in. I think we have first period together, that’s English right? Also, we have third and fourth period together, but I won’t bother you in any of those unless you approach me first.”

“Tu viens?” He asks harmlessly, which meant ‘are you coming?’ He’s not sure if Clark knows french, but it’s obvious with the confused expression. “Are you coming? Or would you like to part ways even in terms of similar classes together? I understand the concept of sticking with your own friends and all, but I don’t have those classes with any of my newly acquired friends since they switched me.”

“They have plenty of friends, I’ll take you up on the offer. They’re not half as interesting as you anyway,” Clark responds as he begins to walk to his English class, “I knew APs were more your speed ever since I saw you finish that pre-calc homework in like five minutes.” Clark himself was smart, he just wasn’t very good at reading the atmosphere and feelings. 

When they finally arrive, Clark leads them both to where he usually sat next to Chloe, except when she saw him walk in with Bruce she quickly switched seats and went to sit next to Pete. “She probably thinks we’re still together, I really need to tell them what happened,” Clark points out, a twinge of guilt in his words. He had a lot to clean up.

Bruce nodded slightly. “Yeah, I think you should tell them,” he replied. The teacher walks in casually, preparing the slides for note-taking. He pauses when noticing Bruce, raising an eyebrow at the new student in his class.

“Seems we have a new student here, would you like to come up here and introduce yourself with a fact?” He recites the same cliche that teachers do.

Bruce sighs before standing up and walking upfront. “My name is Bruce Wayne. Technically, I’m not new… I’ve been here for literally two days, and I kicked Whitney’s ass… Not sure how school’s work, but how am I not suspended?” Bruce realized. The teacher stares at him unamused. “You said to tell them a fact,” Bruce stares back at him with the same amusement.

“Please… Sit down,” the teacher sighs. “I don’t want another class clown who took AP classes just to fail.”

“Sir, my literal IQ is smarter than Einstein, do your research,” Bruce snapped. The teacher stares at him shock, blinking rapidly. “Also, maybe stop calling out kids who transfer to your class. Some people simply don’t like talking in front of crowds.” He smiles fakely before sitting back down.

“Well done,” Clark says, clapping quietly as Bruce sits back down, “No one’s ever stood up to Jefferson, he’s always picking on kids, thinking he’s better just because he’s the teacher. It’s the same thing as always.” Clark looks back up at the powerpoint and begins to take down his notes, the teacher surprisingly not calling out students like usual. 

The class period passed by quickly and soon enough the two walked out of the class, “I’ll see you during third!” Clark says happily before heading off to his second period class. It didn’t go by as quickly as he liked, but it was tolerable. He immediately sees Bruce when he walks into third period and makes his way to the desk he was sitting at. 

“You won’t get called in this class, don’t worry,” he says as he sits down. He pulls out his notebook and makes conversation with Bruce until class starts.

“Alright, welcome to physical education. We will start by putting notebooks away, this is not a class where you’ll have to worry about notes yet. Today, I’ll be assigning partners. However, we have an odd number of students meaning Clark is the only one without a partn- oh! We have a new student here, perfect! Clark, you and Bruce are paired. Everyone else just look at the powerpoint and get with your partners listed. Let’s go to the gym,” she leads the class into the large gym.

“Your partnership lasts the entire semester until gyms over. Basically, your partner and you will stick together during warm-ups, and games. It’s a way of breaking people out of their habits of slacking off. Now, everyone three laps around the gym, now! Jog!” She yelled.

Bruce heads over to Clark. “How _ convenient,” _he teases. He gestures to start jogging, and the two begin to jog together. “She’s a little strange for assigning us partners for an entire semester. I’m not sure what is wrong with public schools. What if the pairs hate each other? It’s ridiculous to think about.” 

“They’ll probably act like they can tolerate each other for the hour and then never associate again, or they’ll just ditch or something. My partner had always been Pete, but he’s in a different class this year,” Clark explains as he slows his pace to match the rest of the class, surprisingly, Bruce was pretty fast so they were ahead by a few feet. 

“I hope you have good coordination because you might get more than a few football hits to the face,” he warns, he’d always done a pretty good job of maintaining normal strength during gym, but with the way Bruce had him constantly slipping up, he didn’t want to accidentally expose himself. It was almost like how he had initially been around Lana._ Oh my god, he was just like this with Lana. _

“_I hoh you hah goo coordination_,” Bruce mimics, mumbling his words together as a joke. He spared Clark a wide smile as they continued to jog. Jogging had always been an easy task for Bruce, but he wanted to stay beside Clark. Not because it was required, but because he liked hanging out with him. The two shared a bond that was returned easily. 

Lana was there too, but she seemed odd. She kept her eyes on Clark, a sad look on her face. It’s almost intentional looking that she fakes a trip as she runs. Somehow, Clark doesn’t see it. In fact, he’s more focused on Bruce that he doesn’t even look her direction as he runs with him. 

“Bruce, you good? You kind of spaced off for a second,” Clark says before looking up and noticing Lana, “Hey! Lana, how’s it going? Just wanted to check if you were okay after all that.” 

“If you’re still using him to make me feel bad, it’s working Clark, so please just stop,” Lana says as she tries to jog a little faster to getaway. 

“No, that’s over, Lana, he’s actually really cool, I’m not hanging out with him to make you jealous, scout’s honor,” Clark says, giving Lana a smile, “I’d really like it if we could just be friends again…” he adds. 

“Clark...don’t you get it? I _ like _you,” she says, stopping at the water fountain.

Clark’s eyes widen in surprise, _ had he really fucked up this bad? _ “But you were with Whitney?” Clark questions, confused, he grabs Bruce by the wrist so that he stops jogging. They both stand at the water fountain together. Bruce with a confused expression, while Clark waited for Lana's answer.

“Because I was afraid to leave him,” she says softly. 


	7. During A Movie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IT CHAPTER 2 SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Lana, I- I’m sorry, I can’t. I’ve got a lot going on, it just wouldn’t be right,” Clark never thought he’d be rejecting Lana Lang. He would have jumped at this opportunity a week ago, but things had gotten a little complicated and Clark didn’t quite know how to handle them.

Lana seems to struggle to say something, he notices her eyes get teary and Clark feels bad, but he couldn’t take what he had said back. “I’ll see you around, Clark,” Lana says before jogging off towards the girl’s locker rooms. 

Clark doesn’t quite know how to react, how was he supposed to feel after rejecting the person he thought would be the love of his life? “Should we...go?” he asks Bruce.

“Go where? The class hasn’t even ended,” Bruce points out. It’s not until five minutes of jogging that the bell rings. “She handled it … Alright, I suppose,” Bruce awkwardly points out. “Why did you reject her though? What do you have going on, Clark? If you’re comfortable talking about it. I mean, you told her the truth. If she forgives you for doing that to her, then go all out and date her. Nothing should even be stopping you anymore.”

He’s beyond confused. All Clark has been trying to do is finally get Lana to notice him, and now she practically was. It was a little ridiculous, to say the least. Why go through the trouble of manipulating someone for nothing in return? He apologized, he fixed things. What else was there to do?  _ Why did he reject Lana?  _ That question pounded in his head.

“I don’t know, she’s a  _ fantasy _ Bruce, every guy wants to date her, everyone digs her and I’m the guy that rose to the top ranks of the football team. Somehow that was supposed to be it, it was only natural that Lana and I date,” he begins to explain, but he barely even knows himself, “But, it’s not what I want…” 

Clark had craved so badly to be normal and getting Lana was his idea of finally being an average high school student. Except, he already was, he didn’t  _ need  _ Lana, nor did he fully  _ want  _ her to begin with. It was what felt safe and natural and stable to him. “It feels kind of weird though, after all that…” he mutters.

“Hopefully you’ll find someone one day,” Bruce spared him a smile as they walked to their last period. The day goes by and they’re back on the bus. Bruce sitting quietly as he does his homework on the bus.

Clark decides to sit next to Bruce as he does his homework, “You got any plans for you to be wanting these pointless worksheets over with?” he teases as he leans forward to see what he was working on, “Not a single one is wrong, impressive.” 

He had never really seen anyone be able to keep up with him in academics, much less never need his help. He was used to tutoring his teammates and friends and for some reason seeing Bruce not need his help was refreshing. He was amazingly independent and Clark almost didn’t know how to act. 

“Not really impressive, but thank you! I just like getting my homework done right before I get back to your house. Also, would you like to hang out together? As in, go to the movies to see the new IT Chapter 2?” Bruce offers. “Unless you don’t want to…” 

“Which I don’t mind going alone but… I’d love the company,” Bruce mumbled. He’s not used to asking people to hang out. He hadn’t done that since a child, and now he was offering left and right. Clark lived with him after all. 

“You shouldn’t have to go see a movie alone, I’d love to go with you,” Clark says. For some reason, it makes him really happy that Bruce would even want to hang out with him. He hadn’t exactly made the best impression at first. 

The bus finally arrives in front of Kent farm and Bruce and Clark get off. “Hey, mom, can I borrow the truck?” he asks after giving her a kiss on the cheek, he had always been a bit of a mama’s boy, “Bruce and I wanted to go see that new movie, I hope you don’t mind.” 

“Of course, sweetie, I’m glad to see you two are getting along. I was afraid you’d be at each other’s throats by now,” Martha says, “I hope he’s not giving you any trouble, Bruce.”

“Not at all!” Bruce quickly says. “He’s been a good friend to me lately. Thank you for letting us see the movie. Hold on, I’m going to get dressed for the occasion,” Bruce quickly runs upstairs. He soon comes down wearing a striped blue t-shirt and blue jeans, his curly hair tamed from the humidity. 

He’s still casual as ever and it was obvious he was excited to go to the movies. “Come on!” He tugs on Clark’s sleeve and pulls him excitedly to the truck. Martha shakes her head with a small smile at the to, and when Clark turns around to look at them, she gives a wink saying ‘ _ Trust me, I know you’re starting to get in deep.’ _

_ He’s so excited, it’s kind of precious.  _ Clark thinks to himself as he smiles at Bruce pulling him to the car, “Don’t worry, we’ll get there,” Clark chuckles as he unlocks the truck and opens the door for Bruce, “After you.” He then goes around and gets into the driver’s seat before pulling out of the driveway. 

“I didn’t think you’d actually enjoy hanging out with me,” Clark admits, he’s mostly focusing on the road but he gives Bruce the occasional glance, “I’m grateful, to say the least, you’re really cool, Bruce. I think people overlook that too often.”

Bruce’s eyebrows soften before he turns his head to look at Clark. His expression softens completely at his words. Bruce scans his face that had the light beams of the sun on his skin. It’s at that moment that his heart  _ thumps.  _ He quickly shakes himself out of it but shows Clark a real toothy grin. 

“That’s quite kind of you, Kent,” Bruce teases. He looks back out the window, admiring the small town they drove through. His expression lighting up when seeing the movie theater coming up. “We’re here!”

Clark parks the car and the two walk to the box office to get their tickets, “Two for It 2 please,” he tells the bored teen behind the glass. She hands him the tickets and they enter the theater. The person in the lobby takes their ticket stubs and directs them to their screening room. 

“Clark Kent? Are you on a date?” he hears Chloe say, she quickly approaches them, “Hi, Bruce!” 

“N-no, it’s kind of complicated, uh, we were never really dating, sorry for lying to you,” he says and Chloe simply gives him an ‘Oh’ of realization. 

“I kind of figured, so don’t feel too bad, you two are kinda cute though. Anyway, I should let you two get to your seats. Later!” she scurries off to where she was sitting and the two are left alone once again. 

“That was weird,” he says to Bruce as they sit down.

Bruce looks over at him. “Not really, you said she’s like that often, right? Anyway, I wonder if it’ll be as scary as the original. I’ve watched the new IT and the original IT, but the new IT wasn’t too good in my opinion. It was a lot of CGI, t- why are people making out during a horror movie? That’s so  _ unclassy, _ ” Bruce cringes.

The movie starts to play, and forty minutes in the hints of Richie and Eddie liking each other was clear. The two hid their feelings quite well. However, it wasn’t really scary. It was actually more funny than scary. Bruce found himself laughing as well as other teenagers in the theater. He wasn’t sure if Clark was afraid though.

Clark pretty much has the same reaction as everyone else in the theater, it wasn’t the best movie but there were aspects that made it alright. He yawns, an arm extending to wrap around Bruce’s shoulders. It was an accidental act, but Clark did fix the action by leaning his arm more against the chair behind Bruce for support.

He looks over at him and takes his actions in. Bruce seems to be enjoying making commentary about the movie, it’s not like anyone minds, they’re all busy making out anyway. He waits for Bruce to notice, he just wants to see what his reaction would be ever since he caught him staring at him while they were driving. Bruce didn’t know that he knew, he had always been good at keeping small actions under wraps.

During the movie, Bruce felt something wrap around his shoulders. He was a little distracted by the last battle, but once the movie had a sadder break, Bruce realized what was going on. He turns his head slowly to look at Clark, seeing his arm around him.  _ He’s just being friendly, Bruce.  _ Bruce’s expression is slightly flustered, but it’s not a full-on stare. 

He looks away to pay attention to the movie. Finally, the movie was over and Bruce dragged Clark through the exit out the back of the theater. It’s not long until the two are swinging around each other as they hold onto each other’s hand. Bruce seemingly settling from his excitement and adrenaline from the movie ending. 

Clark goes along with what Bruce is doing. He’s laughing, a wide smile on his face as the two swing around. He’s glad to see that Bruce is having fun, and if he’s being honest, he’s really enjoying himself too. “Okay but, I’m not the only one who noticed that there was something between Reddie, right?” he says

“And the way Pennywise was so fucking hurt by being called a clown, seriously,  _ that’s  _ his weakness? You’d think he’d be self-aware, if you’re putting on the clown costume, you might as well own it,” he says with a chuckle. He didn’t regret going out with Bruce, it was honestly something he needed, he just wanted to have some fun without the expectations of the rest of his classmates weighing on him.


	8. Closer and Closer

Bruce smiles at this, still holding onto Clark's hand as they continue to gently spin around each other. His foot helping him spring off the side of the alleyway wall. “It’s part of why the movie was funny. When they called him a clown, I felt that,” he jokes. He bounces off the side of the wall again when Clark spins him that direction. This time, his foot slipping which caused him to slide off the wall. After a minute, the two rest from their random acts of fun. Clark was leaning on the wall, while Bruce leaned beside him. His expression softening at the situation before he stands in front of Clark, only inches away. “Did you cry when Eddie died?” Bruce asked.

He wasn’t taking their space into consideration. Clearly, he wasn’t bothered by how close they were. “I almost did, but it’s a bittersweet ending. I can’t cry over something like that easily. Romances are tragic half the time. The movie was realistic in a sense,” Bruce rambles. He obviously had enjoyed the experience. _ Were Clark’s eyes always so blue? _ Bruce hadn’t realized he was leaning up to look at his eyes. His head tilting up to look up at his eyes, admiring them for a moment. _ They’re so blue… How strange. _

Bruce brightly smiles up at him. “Did you enjoy the movie?” He finally snaps out of it, but he’s still leaning close to him. 

Clark doesn’t know exactly how to react, he doesn’t hate it, but something is tempting him to close the space between them. He doesn’t though and instead reaches out impulsively to gently caress Bruce’s cheek. He keeps his hand there for a moment before pulling away and silently beginning to walk back to the parking lot. _ He was so close. _

“I maybe shed a tear,” he admits, breaking the silence, “I just don’t think that all romance should be tragic, maybe in the context of the movie. I guess I was emotional because if you put yourself in Richie's shoes, you just lost someone you loved. It’s not ideal,” Clark adds. He can still feel the warmth of Bruce’s skin on his hand, it’s a gentle reminder of what could be.

Bruce freezes at the contact, his eyes widening slightly. He stares up at Clark, his entire look softening more when his hand is on his cheek. His eyes flutter closed at the feeling for a second before widening and backing up when Clark moves away. _ What just happened? _He snaps out of it and follows after Clark. 

“Yeah, I guess you have a point there. I can relate to that a lot,” Bruce admits as they walk. His eyes on his shoes the entire time. Once they get in the car and drive home, Bruce gets out of the car and runs into the bathroom. _ What the fuck? _ Bruce blinks rapidly. _ Why did he do that? Why did I do that? What the hell? _

Martha is waiting for them in the living room just to make sure everything had gone well, “How was it? Hey, Bru- What did you do?” she says to Clark when Bruce whizzes past her and upstairs to the bathroom. 

“I didn’t do anything?” Clark replies, confused. _ Had he made things awkward back in the alley? _“We had a great time, I don’t know what could have happened. I’ll go talk to him.” He knew exactly what had done, but he couldn’t just tell her. 

He walks upstairs and knocks on the bathroom door, “Bruce? Is everything okay in there?” he asks, his voice laced with concern. 

Bruce soon opens the door. “Yeah, everything is fine. Thank you for taking me to the movies, Clark. I truly appreciate you hanging out with me. Also, what is that sound?” Bruce asks as he walks towards the sound of running water. “Clark, the pipe is leaking!” he yelled. 

“Fix it!” Martha yelled from downstairs. Bruce had no idea how to fix a pipe, so he let Clark do his thing. Clark starts to fix the pipe, but he’s sprayed with water as he does so. Once he finishes, Bruce runs back with a towel to give him. As Clark dries his hair, Bruce stares at his abs showing through his white shirt. He slowly gulps at this and blinks rapidly.

“I’ll handle it,” Clark says as he begins to fix the pipes, “Fuck,” he mutters when he’s sprayed, but it’s really no big deal. He stands up once he’s done, taking the towel Bruce hands him. Clark runs the towel through his hair to dry it, leaving it messy. 

“Thanks,” he says, but notices that Bruce seems a little off. He looks down quickly and then at Bruce before smirking, “We can leave the bathroom now ya’ know?” he teases before turning him around and gently pushing him out the door. 

Bruce’s face reddens before he awkwardly follows Clark. “I wasn’t staring at your abs! I was just spacing out,” Bruce lies. His face scrunching up at how embarrassing that moment was. How could Clark have noticed? Why did he even do that? _ He’s attractive. _ _What?!_ ** _ No. _ **Bruce snaps out of it quickly.

He heads into Clark’s room and gets underneath the covers. It was still fairly early and a weekend, so it was like Bruce was going to sleep, but he felt extremely awkward. He decides to be somewhat active and read instead. Trying to avoid thinking of his embarrassment.

“Whatever you say,” Clark teases as he reaches for a change of clothes, “I’m gonna go shower.” He leaves for the bathroom and quickly showers before returning to the room. In drying himself off he had forgotten to put his shirt back on and enters the room. 

“I figured you couldn’t sleep, it’s a Friday,” he points out as he settles back down on his couch, “I’ll quit teasing you, I’m sure it was just one of those things where you stare off into space and I just happened to be there.” Bruce’s gulp had made it somewhat obvious but he didn’t know why he did it.

Bruce sits up when Clark enters but narrows his eyes when Clark starts to tease him. “Ha-ha, very funny. What’s there to do on a Friday night? I’m bored…” He thinks for a moment before coming up with something. “Would you like to play Never Have I ever? I hear it’s fun, I’ll install an app with automatic questions if you’d like. Unless you don’t want to. I understand if you’re tired.”

It was only 12 A.M. The two had a lot of time until their tiredness would kick in. Bruce had never played games with kids his age, and he wanted to experience it for once. Even if some of the questions were personal, he didn’t mind. The incidence from earlier is still in his head. _ Why did I do that? _He thinks to himself.

“Who needs sleep?” Clark says with a smile as he moves to sit cross-legged on his bed across from Bruce, “Why would I miss a chance to spill my deepest darkest secrets and find out yours?” Clark had never really had a truly fun experience with this kind of stuff. Half the time everyone just ended up making out or throwing punches at each other. 


	9. Never Have I Ever

“Let’s play with five, you know, to make it harder,” he suggests before pressing the randomize button on the app. He reads it out loud, slight amusement in his voice, “Oh, that’s a good one. Never have I ever lost my virginity,” he says before putting a finger down.

Bruce hears the question and doesn’t react to it. His finger stays up, his face reddening after a moment. “I-I’ve never really… Had the time for that kind of stuff… I isolated myself for a while,” he admits, looking away awkwardly.

“Uh, next question, never have I ever played hard to get. I’ve never really had a reason to, so I’m afraid I have to keep my finger up,” Bruce sighs. He was such a loser honestly. What kind of teenager was he? He did nothing teenagers did and it was just sad. 

“There’s no judgment here, it’s kind of adorable, actually,” he admits before putting a finger down, “I would keep it up but then again I faked a relationship to try and get my crush to like me back like I said, no-judgment zone.” 

He looks at the phone screen between them, “Never have I ever sexted someone. Can’t say I have, what’s better than physical contact?” he keeps his finger up and waits for Bruce to take his turn, so far he’s losing and he wonders just how much Bruce has missed out on. He doesn’t feel pity, he just finds it odd how someone can seem so...pure? 

Bruce blinks rapidly at this. “What the fuck is sexting?” He has no idea. Literally, no fucking clue. He grabs his phone and googles it before cringing. “That’s disgusting,” he hands it back to Clark. “No, I have never sexted anybody. Hence not knowing its existence. Glad I haven’t though.”

It’s a little strange that people do things like this. “Never have I ever take lude photos of myself,” Bruce pauses at this. “I haven’t, my entire camera roll consists of either the whiteboard, powerpoint pictures, screenshots of funny Twitter stuff, or pictures of me throwing up a peace sign when I’m crying.” He keeps his finger up.

“Why would I do that? I mean, other than the shirtless gym selfie, but I’m sure that’s excusable. I don’t even take that many!” Clark keeps his finger up, there really wasn’t anything he was embarrassed about in his camera roll, it was mostly his dog or pictures of his friends and himself, “I don’t hit up random girls with dick pics, that’s gross, no one wants them.” 

“Anyway, never have I ever had a wet dream,” Clark puts his finger down, “Okay this game is actually victimizing me, I _ get _it I’m a horny teen. I’m not gonna talk about it, but the secret’s out.” He’s smiling as he says this though, there’s a certain humor about calling yourself out that Clark enjoys.

Bruce thinks for a moment before keeping his finger up. “This game isn’t as fair as I thought it would be,” Bruce grumbled. “I’m a literal loser. Why are all these teen questions so hard to answer? Wait, I’m technically winning, hah!” 

“Never have I ever wanted to kiss someone,” Bruce thinks for a moment. _ Did he ever want to kiss anyone? C-Clark, right? _ ** _NO. _ ** _ Yes. _ ** _No. _ ** Bruce puts his finger down. ** _WHY?! _ ** _ Because. _He snaps out of it. He knows Clark will put his finger down because he’s wanted to kiss Lana.

“Yeah,” he says softly and puts a finger down. The last person he wanted to kiss wasn’t Lana though, he had wanted to kiss Bruce back in the alley when he had gotten close. “It’s probably not the person you think though,” he adds as a little tease before moving on. 

“Never have I ever liked the person I’m playing this with. Oh,” he wasn’t quite sure if he fully liked Bruce, but wanting to kiss him was enough evidence. You didn’t just crave to kiss a guy you thought was just your friend right? He hesitates a little, he’s almost afraid of the outcome. 

“Well, I do like you of course. You’ve become a **friend** I value,” Bruce puts down a finger. That’s what the question meant? Right? _ It's__ as friends, right? _“They should specify what kind of liking they’re asking, anyway. Seems you like me, that’s good. It would be slightly hurtful if you didn’t.”

Never have I ever made out with someone in public… You kissed me in public, but that doesn’t count as making out,” Bruce keeps his finger up. Clark was losing by far and it was slightly enjoyable to watch him fail against him. Even if it meant Bruce was slightly innocent in a sense.

“Of course I like you,” Clark responds as he puts down a finger. If he failed the next question he’d lose, but he was having fun if he was being honest, “They’re really trying to ruin friendships here,” he says with a chuckle. 

“So, never have I ever watched porn. Accidentally or on purpose,” he gives a slight snicker and puts a finger down, “I guess I lost, but hey who hasn’t come across that? I still had a lot of fun though.” He knew that he shouldn’t underestimate Bruce because of his lack of experience though. 

Bruce blushed before looking down. “I-I’ve never…Seen porn before… I’ve seen a naked body? Like a pop-up ad on my computer, but I’ve never watched porn in general. Let’s stop playing,” Bruce quickly says. “This is awkward for me. I sound like such a loser… You’ve done most of these things but I still am so naive.”

“I’m naive to concepts of normal fucking human interaction, but I can ace AP classes easily? What’s the point of being a normal teenager if I don’t act normal? I’m literally a loser compared to you… This game was stupid,” Bruce turns away, his face still flustered from the entire situation, but his eyebrows at tilted into a sadder expression.

Clark didn’t expect the mood to take such a turn, he tries to get Bruce to look at him again, his hand gently touching his jaw, “Hey, it’s okay, Bruce. Just because you don’t have experience doesn’t mean you’re a loser. It’s overrated anyway.” 

He’s trying to make him feel better, he shouldn’t have to feel bad because of some dumb game. “Can you tell me one thing? Did you have fun tonight, you know before the game or well before this? You see all that dirty stuff doesn’t matter, yeah sure it’s cool I guess, but that isn’t experiencing life. It’s about those moments when you’re happy or feeling truly alive, it’s about the emotional moments that shape you and make you stronger. That’s what matters.”

Bruce pauses at this before looking at him. His expression softening at Clark’s words. “Clark, today was the most fun I’ve ever had in a while,” he admits. “Y-you’re right,” he adds. “It’s just a stupid game, it’s nothing for me to get upset over.” Bruce stands up from the bed to stretch slightly and Clark stands up as well.

He looks up at Clark for a moment before wrapping his arms around Clark’s neck and pulling him into a hug. His leg moving up as he jokingly attempts to jump onto him before it slips off, and this causes his feet to drop back onto the floor. He pulls away before sitting back down again, feeling slightly awkward for doing that, but Clark’s words of kindness made him happy.

Clark hugs Bruce back, he gently rubs at his back. He laughs a little when Bruce attempts to be silly, he found it pretty cute. He notices that Bruce seems to be a bit awkward and playfully hits his shoulder, “It’s all good, everyone needs a bit of fun in a hug at least once.” 

“It’s late though, we should get to sleep, tomorrow’s market day and we have to help my parents out at the stand,” Clark had helped out at the farmer’s market hundreds of times and he was excited to see how Bruce did. He had to show him the ropes but he was sure that he’d pick it up quickly.

Bruce cracks a smile at his reassurance. “Of course, goodnight, Clark,” this was the first time Bruce had actually said it in English towards Clark.


	10. Hurricane Hypothermia

He soon goes to sleep and so does Clark, the day starting off with them having to wake up slightly early. Bruce decides to wear his sweater and jeans since it was slightly cooler in the mornings. They sit together to eat breakfast as Martha rambles about the newspaper.

Bruce scoots his chair closer to Clark so that he could reach for the napkins easier. “Wait, what?” He gets distracted by something Martha was saying, and takes the newspaper from her politely to see what it was. His side still leaning into Clark’s, unaware that he was still so close to him. His eyes move left to right as he reads. Martha looks up to see Clark look extremely flustered, her expression softening to this as she smiles softly at him.

Clark is wearing his usual tan jacket over a sweater and jeans as he sits next to Bruce during breakfast. They had been making small conversation, simply enjoying each other’s company as they are. He feels Bruce suddenly lean into him and remain that way, his cheeks reddening as he gulps nervously. It was official his mom knew  _ too _ much. 

He doesn’t move, while he’s nervous, he doesn’t hate it. There’s something that makes Clark want  _ more  _ contact with Bruce. “What’s the article about?” he asks when he notices how into it Bruce seems. 

“School’s out on Monday because of possible hurricane weather,” Bruce replied. “Says today it’s going to hit and stick around until Monday, nothing too serious just extreme flooding warnings and wind. We might lose power,” Bruce realized. “I won’t be able to get my assignments done!” He yelped before standing up and grabbing his plate, washing it before running upstairs.

“Bruce, sweetie!” Martha yells after him before shaking her head. “That boy really is something special. Whoever raised him truly raised him to be punctual and serious,” she sighs. “Honey, would you like to talk about you two? I see the way you look at him, Clark.”

“Mom I- It’s nothing serious? I don’t think, I don’t know. It’s because of the way he made me feel that I blew my shot with Lana, but I can’t, he’s only here for a short time…” he admits, there were still things that were holding him back. He wanted more with Bruce but he was afraid, it was too sudden and it would be too short. 

“Don’t let this turn into another Lana situation, I saw how it hurt you and I can’t bear to see that again. Let yourself be happy, even if it’s only for a short while, it’s better than regretting it for the rest of your life,” Martha says, “It’s just some advice.” 

It wasn’t before long that the rain started to crash down over them. Bruce runs downstairs when hearing the rain in excitement. He’s always loved the rain. Bruce runs outside, his face lit up with joy despite being rained on. “Go on, Clark, go have some fun. Remember if it gets too serious that you need to head back!”

Bruce lets the rain fall on his skin and for the first time, he felt at peace. It was nice to hear the rain crashing down, but it wasn’t scary despite it being a hurricane storm. He noticed Clark coming outside as well and smiles brightly at him. 

“We’ll be safe!” Clark tells his mom before running off outside and meeting Bruce in the front yard. He runs up to him and playfully crashes into him from behind, his arms wrapping around his shoulders. He looks up, the rain falling on his face before he takes Bruce hand and the two begin running around the yard. 

“Most people would be scared to get wet, but I’m glad I have someone that I can do this with!” He says excitedly before smiling at Bruce. He didn’t understand how someone could be so wonderful. Bruce continued to surprise him. 

Bruce bursts into laughter when Clark crashes into him. He lets Clark hold his hand as they run together. This was all amazing to Bruce. He was having so much fun constantly when he was with Clark. It’s not long before he starts to feel incredibly cold. He stops running and wraps his arms around himself. “W-we should go back, I’m starting to feel off,” he mumbled before coughing. 

It’s not long before his body feels incredibly ill, and he ends up passing out. The hurricane intensifies as branches start to fall around them. The wind picking up as the rain drops over them. It’s too dangerous to go back to the house, that was obvious. Martha and Jonathan were attempting to look out the windows for them but saw how dangerous the weather looked.

“Bruce!?” Clark calls when he falls unconscious. Clark was standing right in front of him so he had managed to catch him. Fear rose in his chest, not because of the hurricane but because of the fact that Bruce had clearly caught hypothermia. He looks around, noticing that the barn wasn’t too far and the path was clear as he carefully picks Bruce and speeds into the barn. He’s holding him close, trying to take advantage of the fact that he had a fairly high body temperature. 

When they’re inside he sets him down on some hay before looking around in the emergency storage for blankets. Once he had everything he takes Bruce’s shirt off and wraps him in a blanket before pulling him close to try and warm him up with his own body heat. He feels tears forming in his eyes, he’s terrified that he’ll lose Bruce to this. “It’s gonna be okay,” he whispers, he knows that Bruce can’t hear him but this is more of a reassurance for him. He doesn’t let go of Bruce as the thunder begins, the storm beginning to worsen. 

Bruce begins to feel slightly warmer. It’s not until Clark pulls him closer that he feels an overwhelming amount of heat overwhelms the cold. His body is still shivering as he has a slight fever still. He hears Clark’s voice, which sounds like murmurs, but he also feels drops of water on his skin.  _ Is Clark… Crying? Was he actually crying? Please don’t cry. _

Bruce’s eyes start to flutter in an attempt to gain consciousness. He just wants to reassure Clark that he’ll be okay. Bruce’s eyes slowly open for a second, his eyes stabilizing to see Clark looking hopeless. His hand weakly reaches up to tighten around Clark’s damp shirt before his eyes close again. 

For some reason, Clark begins to sob harder. He pulls Bruce even closer, he doesn’t know what’s wrong with him. He’s never felt like this, he’s never been this scared to lose someone. The relief Clark felt was almost unbearable, he didn’t think he could feel this much for a person. 


	11. A Painful Feeling

“Oh my god, you’re okay,” he finally says, composing himself and smiling for Bruce, “I thought I was gonna lose you, but you’re okay.” Liking someone wasn’t all fluffy like Clark thought, it was painful, it means constantly being on your toes, afraid something would happen or that you’d mess it up somehow. 

Bruce nods slightly, still dealing with the overwhelming shivers and heat at the same time. His mouth agape as he tries to breathe normally. Clark’s voice was oddly soothing, even if he could hear the slight panic. His grip on Clark’s shirt tightens. It’s the only way he can show that he’s truly appreciative of Clark being there for him.

His chest burnt with a mixture of feelings and one of them being an awful ache. It was as if Clark’s worried tone made his chest hurt. It hurt to hear Clark so worried for him. Bruce hit the realization that if he leaves Clark once Alfred gets better, it’ll all go south for Clark, but mostly him. Bruce didn’t know it, but he started to feel _ a lot _ for the Kansas smalltown boy. 

Clark didn’t want Bruce to leave, it was why he was so hesitant on accepting his feelings. The moment he left, Clark wouldn’t know how to cope and he feared what might happen after that. He was beginning to feel a little better though, knowing that Bruce was alive was enough; but he was still shaking and struggling to stay awake and all Clark could do was keep him warm. 

“After the worst of the storm is over, we can go inside and drink hot cocoa by the fire and do anything you want. I promise,” Clark says, his voice a bit calmer and collected now. Bruce’s little attempts at reassuring him were definitely working, he had stopped crying and was now simply stroking at Bruce’s wet curls to comfort him a little. Clark had been scared but he could only imagine what Bruce felt.

Bruce smiles slightly before coughing. His body finally seeming to get less ill. His eyes finally open all the way, his eyes locking onto Clark’s face. “Y-you’re not human, are you?” Bruce whispers, coughing slightly. “It’s okay, I won’t tell anybody…” He adds softly, his eyes closing again when feeling his head burn up. 

Bruce knew the moment Clark mentioned his speed that something was off. When he had slapped him, it hurt his hand and Clark hardly flinched. Clark would also somehow get around quickly, and he never would sweat. Bruce didn’t care about that aspect though, he was just grateful that Clark hadn’t left him in the storm.

Clark is taken aback by Bruce’s observation, “I- How did you- You know what, nevermind, I can trust you,” he says before relaxing a bit. He knew that Bruce was true to his word, he was extremely intelligent too. There was no way that he wouldn’t figure out that Clark wasn’t a normal teenager by now. Bruce had fallen asleep again and Clark couldn’t fully explain himself, but he knew that he wanted to tell him the truth or well as much as he knew about it. 

After some time, the storm lets up a little and Jonathan is sent to make sure they’re okay and to let them know that they can come back into the house safely. Clark lets out a sigh of relief before picking Bruce up once more and taking him back into the house safely. He waited until Bruce was a little more stable so that he could get himself into dry clothes but did pile more blankets onto him.

Martha exchanges a worried look, but she could see how frazzled Clark seemed. “Sweetie, can we talk? He seems stable for a moment,” she gently pulls away. She cups his cheeks for a moment, a sad look on her face. “Stop trying to kill your feelings. You are completely valid for having these feelings for him. It’s obvious you are starting to grow an attachment, maybe even love for him. Don’t kill it, alright? Go back to him,” she gestures before turning to go make some soup.

Bruce finally woke up, shivering slightly. He looks around the room and sighs in relief when seeing he was back home. Bruce noticed Martha left one of his fluffy turtlenecks on the couch, and he quickly puts it on, burying his face into its collar. Finally, he felt almost warm enough. 

When he walked back into the living room, his heart almost melted at the sight of Bruce burying his face in his turtleneck. It was precious and he almost kicked himself for feeling that way but his mother’s words were still fresh in his mind.  _ Don’t kill your feelings for him, Clark. You can do this. You can be happy.  _ He thinks as he admires the boy next to him. He remembers that he's holding hot cocoa, and passes it to Bruce gently.

Bruce takes the mug from him before leaning into Clark. His head resting on his shoulder as he stares at the fire. “I owe you one for being a hero,” Bruce mumbled. He’s still cold everywhere. “I guess we’re going to have school on Monday, huh?” 

“Sadly!” Martha yells from the kitchen. 

“Tomorrow Clark has to help clean up the yard, Bruce you can use all the rest you can get. I’m truly sorry this happened to you,” Jonathan sighs. 

The evening passes quickly and soon enough so does the weekend. Since Bruce knew about his powers he didn’t hold back when helping lift the larger tree branches and they managed to finish quickly. Bruce was recovering pretty well, but Clark still felt a bit uneasy, he just wasn’t sure why.


	12. Understanding A Freak Show

By the time he knew it, it was a Monday morning and Bruce and Clark were on the bus to school once more. “You shoulda taken an extra day, just to make sure,” Clark frowns, he was still a little worried for him, “But hey, then again, you know when you’re ready so I trust you with that. Just take it easy, don’t get into any brawls, okay,” he teases, giving him a slight bump on the shoulder. They’re off the bus and heading towards the school. 

“Don’t worry, I’m not much of a fighter,” Bruce replies. “That was a one time de-”

“Hey, fag! You think you could get away with your smartass behavior? You’re really fucking stupid for chosing to eat outside today without your friends, just dumb jock Kent,” Whitney snapped, walking towards the pair. “Maybe you’ll learn who you’re messing with when I fucking cut you!” Before anyone can react, Bruce is grabbed by another jock. One grabs Clark as well, keeping him back.

Whitney pushes Bruce into the ground harshly, causing Bruce to hit the school wall behind them hard. The sound of his head hitting the wall echoed. “Oh, shit,” Whitney widened his eyes. “Fuck, man… Are you okay? Shit, oh my god. I wasn’t actually going to hurt him too bad!” Whitney freaks out when seeing Bruce not moving for a moment. Bruce looks up quickly, a scared look on his expression before Whitney is picked up off the ground by… Seemingly nothing? “What the fuck?!”

The other jocks crowd around in confusion. “Whitney?!” Jason yelled. They all turn to see Bruce now standing, his expression still the same scared look before his feet start to pick up off the floor. His entire body now in mid air as the jocks are yelling in terror. Bruce’s hands are lined with sparks of white. Whitney starts to freak out and Bruce’s face twitches before Whitney starts to scream in pain.

“Everything  _ hurts!”  _ Whitney cried out. “Stop it, stop it you fucking freak!” Bruce widens his eyes, his expression changing from fear to utter shock before Whitney drops from the air onto the ground. Bruce also drops from the air and he stares at Clark for a second before bolting off into the school, running to find the bathroom. It’s not long before he locates the bathroom and vomits into the toilet.

Clark doesn’t know what he’s witnessing, he’s never seen anyone with gifts like him, at least not those that were caused by the meteor that crashed the same day his parents found him. Bruce seemed unaware of these, though, and Clark’s stomach dropped. Something had happened during the hurricane, Bruce hadn’t known that he had powers otherwise he wouldn’t have had that response. It was like when Clark’s gifts began to appear when he was a child, he was terrified the first time he used a little too much force and pulled an entire pole out of the ground without breaking a sweat while helping his dad. 

He runs after Bruce after having been let go by the jocks out of sheer shock and knocks on the stall, “Bruce? You didn’t know, did you? But y-you couldn’t have been born with them, could you? Things happen in Smallville, but I’ve never seen them at this scale. I’m the only person who can come close…” he says as he tries to figure this out.

Bruce opens the stall door after a moment. He feels awful. Between his head slightly hurting from the impact and the random outburst of powers, he was overwhelmed. Bruce could only think of doing one thing, which was tackle Clark into a hug. His arms tighten around Clark’s waist as he processes what’s going on. “Clark, what’s going on with me?”

Was he a freak?  _ How would Alfred react to this?  _ Bruce was filled with slight anxiety at the thought of Alfred, and this causes one of the stall doors to pop off its hinges. He quickly moved away from Clark since it startled him, his face shifting into a guilty expression. “I’m scared.”

Clark hugs Bruce back tightly, he knows how he feels and it pains him. Bruce should never have had to feel like this. “I don’t know, but we’ll figure this out. Sometimes you’re born with things like this and they don’t appear until much later, sometimes they just happen, but I’m going to help you,” he tries to reassure him, “If anyone knows anything about this kind of stuff, it’s me.” 

He’s slightly surprised when the stalls pop open, but he’s not scared. “It’s okay to be scared, but you have a gift, Bruce. You just have to learn how to control it,” he tells him, “It’s not your fault, and don’t worry about the doors, shit destroys this school every other week.” He extends a hand for Bruce to take, it’s a gentle gesture of support.

Bruce frowns slightly at this. He still takes Clark’s hand hesitatingly.  _ A gift?! “ _ This isn’t a gift, Clark, this is a curse. I am stuck with powers that I don’t understand. What if I hurt someone?! What if I hurt you?! I almost killed Whitney!” Bruce freaks out, this causes Clark to be thrown back against the bathroom wall, making a crack in it visible. Bruce gasps at this, his expression full of regret. “I’m so sorry…” 

He never wanted to do that. He wasn’t even trying to use his powers. Bruce didn’t know what caused them. His breathing is rapid, but he freaks out more when seeing the bathroom stall doors slamming open and closed rapidly. “Clark, what do I do?!” Bruce can’t help but feel his eyes water, he pushes himself into the corner of the bathroom wall and breaks into uncontrollable sobs. The sinks now spilling water out everywhere as well. 

Something clicks within Clark, “It gets worse when you're scared,” he points out in a gentle tone, “You were fine during the hug, but you thought of something and your emotions flipped. Is that right?” He’s inching closer to Bruce slowly so as to not overwhelm him, but he just wants to wrap him in a hug. He knows that Bruce can’t hurt him, nothing has truly ever hurt him except for the meteor rocks. 

“You’re not going to hurt me,” he says as he tries to pull him into a hug, “You won’t kill anyone. Bruce, it’s difficult right now, you just discovered these, but controlling them takes time. They can be used for good. I said the same thing, but my parents made me realize that I could do what I wanted with my powers and that I could use them to help people instead of hurt them,” he says softly.

Hearing Clark realize what was going on was somewhat reassuring. It wasn’t until Clark pulled him into a hug that he calmed down. The doors stopped slamming and the water stopped running. Bruce hugs Clark back tightly, almost relieved that he didn’t leave him there. Clark was always so comforting when it came to it. 

“Thank you,” Bruce finally says. The anxiety built up in his chest slowly dies down, and Bruce takes a deep breath to indicate he’s relaxed.  _ Clark was right. It’s based on my fear.  _ He was beyond relieved that he managed to control it for now. 

“We don’t have to go to class yet if you’re not ready,” Clark says to him, making sure that he was okay, “I can call my parents so they can pick us up if you need to.” Bruce hadn’t had the luxury of gaining his powers in private like Clark was, he was sure that facing the school would be difficult. 

He sighs in relief when Bruce calms down. It was for his own good that he try and relax. They could figure this all out later, as long as Bruce tried to remain calm, they could make it through the day. “Don’t worry about Whitney, he’s been tossed around by his fair share of Smallville mysteries, they’ll get over it,” he tells him.

“What if they tell someone though? I could end up a freak show. How are you so calm about this?” Bruce sighs, trying to keep calm. It’s almost scary to think about. “Please, can we take a day off? I hate to miss class but I really don’t feel comfortable being here right now,” Bruce adds. He feels bad for making them miss class. 

“You can stay if you want,” he mumbled. He didn’t want Clark to miss school just because of him. Clark deserved to stay, this was his High School after all, not Bruce’s. He feels bad thinking of Martha and Jonathan having to come and pick him up. This was just sad to think about.

“This town has seen more than you can imagine,” he says, “I’ll go with you, I don’t want you to be alone through this. I can catch up on notes some other time.” He pulls out his phone and dials his mom’s number. 

“Clark? What’s wrong?” She asks, a worried tone in her words. 

“Do you think you could come pick Bruce and I up, he’s not feeling well,” Clark tells his mother as he continues to hug Bruce with his free arm. He doesn’t break eye contact with him, a reassuring look in his eyes. 

“Of course, honey, we’re on our way. I warned him to stay an extra day, but he’s such a responsible boy,” she says before hanging up.

Once they’re picked up, Bruce heads towards the barn with Clark. He’d rather not be inside where he felt that he could risk messing something up. Bruce sits on the hay as he thinks. “I can’t help feeling fear. How will I control it? Why did this have to happen to me?” He grumbled. For some reason, he felt mad. He felt angered that he couldn’t be a normal person. He already struggled with that.

Anger rises inside him and Bruce screeches when a hay bale starts floating. “Why is it doing that?! I’m not even afraid this time!” It’s not long before Clark is also picked up. Bruce blinks rapidly at this, confusion on his face as he watches Clark struggle to keep his balance in midair inside the barn. “Clark… What do I do?!”

“What did you feel just then? It has to have something to do with your emotions,” Clark says when he takes note of what had just happened. He was a little surprised when he was raised up into the air, but he wasn’t scared of it. He had to help Bruce get a hold of this and going little by little was how they would do it. 

“You can’t be scared of it or yourself, it’s a part of you until we figure out if we can fix it or not. It seems to be something telekinetic. Focus on me and try to bring me down with it, it’s fine if it gets a little messy, it won’t hurt me,” Clark explains to Bruce, “If you’re up for it, we can get Chloe to help at some point, she’s solved half the things that happen here, she can help us find a way to figure this out.” 

Bruce relaxes when seeing Clark so calm about the situation. His anger dies down to the point that he’s just focusing on Clark.  _ Put Clark down, put Clark down, put him down, please…  _ He repeats, shutting his eyes tightly. He keeps repeating the thought in his head. It’s not long before his hands start to spark with white particles. Bruce opens his eyes to focus on Clark, trying to avoid being afraid of himself.

_ Please put him down…  _ Bruce widens his eyes when seeing Clark slowly be put down. “I did it…” Bruce whispers before excitement flows through him. “I did it!” He yelled happily, but yelps when the door flies open. Behind it was Lana, obviously getting ready to knock. Bruce realized he must’ve triggered a reaction and opened the door before she managed to.

“You did it!” Clark says as he runs up to hug him, but is stopped by the door. He looks over, his breath hitching as he realized who it was behind the door, “Lana? What are you doing here?” he asks.


	13. Lana's Hurtful Words

“I wanted to talk...to find out if you had thought about my confession and figured out what you wanted,” she says to him. There was something in her eyes that Clark couldn’t quite put his finger on, it almost reminded him of that time Chloe had kissed him when she was persuaded to show her crush on him by the hermit in the woods.  _ Oh boy.  _

“Lana, I-” he tries to speak but is cut off. Lana was completely ignoring the fact that Bruce was in the room, it was like he wasn’t even there. 

“Clark, don't,” she says before reaching up to pull Clark down before kissing him with no warning. Clark didn’t kiss her back though, he simply stood there, eyes wide open in shock before he managed to pull away from her. 

Bruce widens his eyes at this, his fists clench slightly. His eyes feel misty and he’s not sure why. All of a sudden he feels a few tears roll down his cheeks. “Bruce, I like you, but Clark and I were simply made for each other. Please just respect that,” Lana interrupts. Bruce is overwhelmed by emotions crashing down on him. His fists are shaking from how tight he’s clenching them.

He turns around, trying to calm himself down but he can’t. Bruce chokes out a sob, Lana’s words hitting him deeper than he expected. She was  _ right.  _ Bruce was nothing to Clark. He’d have to leave him anyway. Bruce can’t even open his eyes since they were clenched shut with tears that were pouring down his cheek. He doesn’t even notice that his feet start to lift off the ground. “W-What the?” Lana questions, backing up. Everything around Bruce starts to lift off the ground and spiral around him.  _ Alfred. Alfred. Alfred. Clark will never feel something for me. I’ll have to leave him. I’ll have to leave him. I’ll be alone again. I’ll be a freak show.  _ “What’s wrong with him?!” She screeches when more things start to fly around them.

“We weren’t made for each other, you can’t force me to like you,” Clark says to her, his tone serious, “Can you just please leave, this isn’t the time.” He leaves Lana’s side and goes to where Bruce is floating, he doesn’t care about the things flying around him. They won’t do anything anyway. 

“Bruce, hey, look at me! Bruce, whatever she made you feel, what she said, it’s not true. She doesn’t know me. She can’t tell me what I feel,” his tone is urgent yet comforting, he’s trying to make sure Bruce gets down safely, “I wouldn’t be here helping you if I didn’t care about you, in fact, I think I care about you too much. You have to calm down, please, you have to control it.” 

Bruce cries out at this, his eyes flinging open before turning his head to look at Clark. Tears are still rolling down his cheek. “What’s the point of trying to control myself if I don’t even know myself?!” Bruce yelled, more things flying around him. It’s not long before the wind starts to swirl into the room as well.

“How can I be myself if my entire life has been without finding myself?! What’s the fucking point? The moment Alfred gets better, I’ll have to leave! I’ll lose you and I’ll be stuck alone in a big mansion again! I’ll just be alone constantly. I’ll have to go back to trying to run a business that my parents had! Why did they have to die, Clark?! You can’t just tell me to control my fucking emotions when my entire existence is an emotional wreck!” Bruce yelled.

Clark’s heart breaks when he remembers that Bruce is only here for some time, but he quickly snaps out of it. “You can’t change the past, Bruce. You can’t live in the future either. You’re here now and while you are we’re going to do what we can to help you figure everything out. The thing is, we’re never truly done finding ourselves, but you’re not alone in this. I won’t let you be alone,” Clark tries to coax Bruce into calming down, he’s not lying as he speaks, everything sounds sincere. 

His heart is pounding, he’s afraid he’ll lose Bruce to this, but he knows him and he knows that he’s capable of, “You’re strong, Bruce. You’re the same Bruce that pulled my head out of my ass back then, you’re the guy who stood up to Whitney even without powers. I know you’re stronger than this.” 

Bruce's eyes water more before he chokes out a loud sob. Objects swirling around him start to slow down to a rate that Clark could easily reach and grab a hold of Bruce’s arm. He also was low enough to the ground that Clark could do this. “You’re just saying that,” Bruce whispers. Despite saying this, nothing increases around him.   


Everything is slower and starting to get calmer. Bruce didn’t even know why he was freaking out over this, but the moment he started it was hard to stop. He was always trying to keep in control of his fear and  emotions, but something in him explodes when being thrown out of his happiness.

Clark reaches out to Bruce, “I’m not just saying it, if I could put into words how much I mean it I would,” he says as he helps him down, “Don’t let yourself live in fear, embrace it, you can’t push it back or make it go away, but you can acknowledge it and let it run its course. It’s only temporary. 

He pulls Bruce into a hug, his sobs making Clark’s chest ache with a pain he had never really felt before. He longed to help him out of the loneliness he felt, he wanted Bruce to be happy, even if it was for a moment. He doesn’t let go of Bruce but his grip is enough so that if Bruce wants to let go he can. “Why did you react like that? Maybe we should start there,” he tries to get him to understand what had happened so that he can control the powers better. He was starting to sound like a therapist and he didn’t know how to feel about it.

After Clark pulls him into a hug, he’s a little caught off guard by his questions. “I don’t know why I reacted that way… I just started feeling intensely sad and hurt, then all my other emotions and thoughts came through. I just felt helpless… I didn’t hurt anyone, right?” Bruce realizes, pulling back from Clark’s embrace. He feels slightly bad for not hugging him back. 

“Maybe you and Lana are supposed to work out. She clearly likes you for you, Clark. I’d like to see you happy with,” Bruce tries not to cry, “with someone else,” he finishes his sentence. “You deserve it, Clark. Stop hesitating for no reason. Please stop trying to be my therapist too,” Bruce backs up. “I’m going to contact Alfred tonight about whatever this is,” he turns and walks off quickly.

“Someone else? Bruce!” he calls after him, he wasn’t expecting those words. He doesn’t want to be with Lana. It’s only after so many years of pining that she  _ finally  _ realizes that she liked him? Clark doesn’t get it, nor does he want to be involved in it anymore, it had hurt him to see her with Whitney and he didn’t want to be a rebound either. 

He leaves the barn and goes into the house, “Mom, did Bruce come inside?” he asks as he walks into the living room. He looks around but he assumes that he’s gone to their room. 

“He needs some time. Let him talk with his guardian,” she says, going up to Clark and putting a hand on his shoulder, “You know what it feels like, just be his friend, don’t try to be a detective.” 

Clark smiles softly at his mom, it's a sad smile, but he can’t muster a happier one. He goes upstairs but hesitates when he’s about to knock on the door. Could he just barge in on Bruce right now, he was afraid of interrupting something important.

“Master Bruce, it’s quite common that people have random shocks of power. Between past “superheroes” it’s not going to shock the media too much. I would, however, keep them a secret. When I am better we will run tests and see if we can learn together on how the work. Maybe even figure out a cure on top of that. Enjoy your stay, sir, I assure you I am recovering,” Alfred tells him.

“Good to hear,” Bruce smiles slightly before they bid farewell and Bruce puts down his phone. It was relieving how calm Alfred took hearing this. He was almost thankful he had such an understanding butler raising him. Bruce would internally thank his parents for that aspect of his life.


	14. I Don't Want To Leave

Clark knocks on the door and walks into the room, “Did you get to talk to Alfred?” he says when seeing Bruce feeling almost better. That didn’t mean that what had just happened would go away overnight. He sits down on the couch, he’s fidgeting with his hands. He doesn’t quite know what to say, he’s been trying to make sense of Bruce saying that he was fine with seeing him with someone else. 

He didn’t know if he should ignore or address it, but he also didn’t want to overwhelm Bruce with it. He decided that if Bruce brought it up then they could talk about it, but otherwise, he would try not to think about it too much. The only problem was that it was the only thing on his mind. “Is he doing better, by the way?” he questions.

“He’s getting a lot better. He should be fully recovered in a week or so…” Bruce mumbled. He winces at what had happened earlier before latching himself onto Clark, hugging him tightly. He didn’t care that they were sitting and it would seem intimate. “I don’t want to leave,” Bruce finally admits, his voice cracking before he feels himself break down into tears.

“I-I don’t want to,” he says again. His entire body is completely leaning into Clark. Bruce had never known what it felt like to leave somewhere that you don’t want to abandon. As a child, he never left the mansion. Clark had made Bruce feel entirely normal, even if things weren’t the most normal, and now he had to carry on the burden of having some ‘magic’ all by himself.

Clark hugs Bruce back tightly, he’s trying to soothe him by stroking his hair with one hand, “Do you  _ have  _ to go back? O-or I can visit you every other weekend, I’ve saved up from my allowance,” he tries to find a way where he won’t completely lose Bruce from his life. He doesn’t want this following week to be the last he gets to spend with him. 

“But that’s not enough…is it,” he adds, his voice somewhat sad sounding. He knew that it would be difficult and he wanted this moment to last forever. He wanted to stay with Bruce even if it was just as friends, he just wanted him in his life regardless of what they were. “I just want you to be  _ happy,  _ Bruce,” he whispers.

Bruce hugged him tighter when hearing this. “You’ve already made me quite happy, Clark,” he mumbled into his shoulder. “I don’t want to leave. I really don't want to leave, but Alfred needs me. I need Alfred just as much. Right now, I shouldn’t be worrying about the future, but I am. I don’t want to leave you,” he sighs. “You’re such a good fucking _ friend _ .”

He doesn’t care that he’s clinging onto Clark. He’s relieved that he met Clark in the first place. Even though he had some time with him left, the overwhelming amount of sadness of the situation wasn’t present anymore. It was sad to think about, but Bruce knew this would have to happen to them.

“Well, you’re here now,” Clark says reassuringly, “Is it cheesy to say live in the moment? I mean that’s kinda what the goal is here, or am I taking it too far?” He’s trying to lighten the mood and maybe make Bruce smile just a little bit. 

“No, seriously, I care about you immensely,” Clark admits, if he was being honest, his heart broke just a little when Bruce called him a friend. It wasn’t like he was lying though, for now, this was what they were. It was what Clark would accept if it was what Bruce wanted, everything else could wait.

Bruce pulls back slightly. “Would it be weird for two boys to cuddle together? I really don’t want to let go of you, but I’m also cramped on this couch. Only if you’re  _ comfortable,”  _ he whispers the last part, suddenly feeling awkward. His cheeks dusted a dark red when realizing how stupid he just sounded.

Cuddling? Seriously? How old were they?  _ Five?  _ Jesus Christ,  _ Bruce what are you thinking?!  _ He hopes Clark doesn’t think he’s a weirdo for asking. He really didn’t mean to cause an awkward situation. Why did he even suggest that in the first place? What the hell?  _ You’re a disaster, Bruce. _

“It’s not weird, come on,” he says as he kicks off his shoes. They move to the bed and Clark wraps his arms around Bruce, “Nothing’s really weird, society just made it seem that way.” He’s glad he can be some sort of comfort for Bruce. He’s always helped people by using his abilities, he’s never been able to be himself and Bruce allowed him to do that. This was beyond super strength or super speed, this was just human contact and a relationship that he was forming and it was a relief. 

They stayed like this for a while, the evening quickly approaching. Clark didn’t think that he wanted to let go, it felt nice,  _ Bruce felt nice.  _ Everything just fit together and the thoughts of school and Lana and being anything other than just Clark faded at this moment. “Do you ever think that we were meant to meet?” he mumbled softly.

Bruce doesn’t mind the closeness, it all feels normal to him. He’s somewhat content and at peace with this. Bruce had never felt so comfortable with someone other than Alfred. It was all a new feeling for him. The two were laying on the bed facing each other, quite close in fact. Their legs slightly intertwined with one another. Their faces only inches from one another. Even if their hands hadn’t been touching, it was intimate. Clark’s intimacy with Bruce was calming. 

His eyes open when hearing Clark talk all of a sudden. “Everything happens for a reason, Clark,” he says softly. “If we were meant to meet, I wish we could’ve better sooner.” There’s something in Bruce that wants more. He wants to feel Clark’s hand on his cheek, he wants to be buried in the larger males chest and hide from the world. He craved so much and he wasn’t sure why.

Clark reaches up to touch Bruce’s cheek gently just as he had back in the alley, except he isn’t afraid this time. “I think the timing was better than meeting years down the line,” he admits. He’s so close to Bruce that he expects himself to get nervous, but he doesn’t. He feels comfortable, he doesn’t even have to think twice about this. 

Clark hadn’t noticed how pretty Bruce was this close. He could see every freckle and every small detail of his face. His eyes were captivating and comforting. The itch to kiss Bruce remained ever since that day but he couldn’t do it now. He had called him his friend, it wasn’t the time. 

Bruce's eyes scan Clark’s face up and down for a moment, his mouth slightly agape but it turns slowly into a soft smile.  _ We’re always so close, but the space between us remains so far.  _ Bruce thinks to himself. This was beyond anything he’s ever experienced. The last time he felt this safe and alright was when he was just a boy. When his parents used to hold his hands and take him to the fair.

Clark’s gentle blue eyes staring back at him made Bruce’s head spin with constant thoughts. His chest starts to ache for an unknown reason. Clark’s hand on his cheek is something he will always have burnt into his memory. The moon’s light reflecting slightly on Clark’s face and his own made this moment even more memorable. 

For some reason, Clark wasn’t tired, nor was he remotely ready to call it a night despite it being such a long day. He had forgotten that they had school tomorrow after all this. He just couldn’t get Bruce out of his head. “I wish I could freeze time,” he says softly. He closes his eyes for a moment, trying to keep what he was feeling, what Bruce looked like, their even breaths, in his memory. He didn’t want to think about the future. 

“Do you think ...you've ever wanted someone that you couldn’t have?” he asked, his voice sounding as if this was something painful for him. He wasn’t talking about Lana though. He knew that he was referring to Bruce. He was the person who had made him feel things that he thought were impossible. He made him take the less impulsive route. He made him truly think for once. 


	15. Our Darkest Hour

Bruce stares at him for a moment before his smile slightly fades at Clark’s question. “Yes,” he whispers. He’s never understood a question so well until now. It was something that pained him to even hear. “I think so,” Bruce adds quietly. He can’t believe he just admitted that but what else could he have done? He was running out of time and now was the time to just admit it. 

He didn’t even know he liked guys or truly Clark. It was funny how Bruce found him a normal dorky High School guy that he would never imagine crushing on, but here he was, starting to like Clark. He had the expectation that Lana and him would make it through, but for him to fall for Clark? It seemed impossible.

“I have too,” he replies. He knew he wasn’t going to get the fantastical answer he desired, it had only been a few days and he wouldn’t expect Bruce to catch feelings as quickly as he had. Hearing Bruce say this, though, almost reassured him. He felt a little less alone when it came to this aching feeling that came along with a star-crossed love. 

“I’m glad I’m not alone…” he softly admits, his gaze on Bruce as attentive as ever. His lashes were so long and they framed his eyes so beautifully. He was almost lost in them. He didn’t even notice the owls hooting outside or the lone coyote howling in the distance. He was at peace.

Bruce’s eyes flicker to Clark’s lips for a second before back to him. He stares at him for a moment, his heart beating with anxiety. His face slowly inches towards him, nudging Clark’s cheek with his nose slightly before he turns his head slightly. He opens his mouth a little before locking his lips with Clark’s. 

His heart is speeding with anxiety and fear of rejection. The fear of Clark hating him after this was obvious to him. Bruce’s kiss is more hesitant yet laced with desperation. His entire body feels like it’s being weighed underwater. For once in his life, he felt truly vulnerable, but he also felt so alive. He used to spend hours convincing himself that he deserved no love after his parents and even blamed his death on him.

Clark is a little surprised at first, his heart pounding at the sudden rush of adrenaline he felt from the kiss. He doesn’t hesitate to kiss Bruce back, his feelings are returned and it feels so much better than a confession with words. The kiss is slow at first, it’s sweet and a little messy, but the intent is there. 

He doesn’t know what he’ll say after this, he doesn’t even know if he wants to speak, but his reaction certainly isn’t bad. He simply doesn’t think that words are truly needed after this. After feeling Bruce’s lips on his when he thought that he would have to confess and get rejected, after the soft, intimate embrace the two shared; Clark felt that a jumbled string of sentences from him would ruin the allure of the moment. He wanted to preserve the bittersweet feeling that came with wanting Bruce. 

Bruce’s hand reaches up to cup Clark’s cheek in the kiss, it’s still slightly messy but he doesn’t care. The kiss is almost as if someone threw a mixture of different nervous feelings mixed with a warm and content one into a blender before blending them all together. He’s never truly kissed anyone like now and he couldn’t be happier. Despite the slight bittersweet taste to the kiss, it wasn’t enough to make him stop.

It’s not until he runs out of air that he slightly pulls back, his lips are still touching Clark’s gently as they hover near them. His eyelashes close enough that if he blinked, Clark would feel them touch his skin. Bruce’s body is hot but the mixture of his shivers deprived him of that feeling. It didn’t matter to Bruce anymore. This whole moment was something he’d never forget.

Clark can’t help but keep his eyes on Bruce, a look of admiration in them. He lets him breathe for a moment before kissing him once more, his lips were too close and too tempting to Clark. He was desperate for this since the moment he realized his reasons for changing his mind about his true feelings. 

He was thankful that his parents had allowed them to stay home from school the following day, they had been up for so long it would have been near impossible to survive a full day of classes. Clark deepens the kiss a little, the desperation getting to him and making it a little more passionate. He takes a desperate and shaky breath in, the satisfaction of the kiss getting to him.

It’s not long that Bruce starts to sit up, still kissing Clark back. When Clark sits up, Bruce shifts himself onto his lap, his hands still cupping his cheek as he returns every kiss they start. His entire body tingles at the feeling of kissing him. All his emotions are present in every movement he casts. It’s only when he pulls back slightly that he bursts into tears and kisses him again.

When chokes out words when he kisses him, “I-I don’t wanna go.” Their genuine words that are filled with a tone or sadness. The kiss is desperate and slightly sad. It’s evident that his tears keep coming when he moves closer to kiss Clark, every aspect increasing into a moment of desperation. His thumbs gently swipe Clark’s cheek as he kisses him. 

“I don’t want you to,” Clark says sadly as he pulls away for a moment, “I wish you didn’t have to.” He’s never been one to cry over something like this, but he feels his eyes become full of tears and there’s no point in fighting them back. He’s afraid of what’ll happen when Bruce goes and he can’t bear to think about it. 

“You’re the best thing that’s happened to me,” he says softly before he goes back in for another kiss. Although there’s a sadness to it he enjoys it. It reminds him of what Bruce said that night in the alley, the night he got too close. He said something about a tragic romance and Clark had never thought this could be them. He didn’t think they’d end up like this.

“That’s not true, Clark, your parents are,” Bruce whispers in an endearing manner. Clark interrupts him by kissing him which Bruce easily returns. The kiss is more of a sad yet passionate one, not one of sexual undertones. He pulls back from Clark and kisses his cheek before gently sliding off his lap and into a lying position. 

“I leave in two days,” Bruce finally says. “Alfred told me that your mom would drive me back home.” He stares at the ceiling before his eyes water again and he starts to let out soft cries. “ _ God,  _ I don’t want to leave.” 

“We have two days, it’s better than having none,” he replies, his tone is just slightly optimistic. He wants to cherish the time he has left with Bruce before he hardly sees him again. He knows that it’ll be difficult for both of them, they’ve grown too attached to each other. 

It was an emotional night for the two, but some tensions were released and Clark was grateful for that. His heart no longer ached from longing but from the fact that he’d miss Bruce and that he was constantly being reminded that they would have to separate. “Let’s focus on that instead, let’s make them memorable,” as he says this he moves Bruce’s face so that he faces him and wipes the tears from his eyes, a soft, reassuring smile on his face.

“You’re right,” Bruce mumbled. His eyes locking with Clark’s, returning the smile Clark was giving him. “Tomorrow what would you like to do? I honestly don't want to do anything with my powers, other than wish they were gone. I certainly don’t think you want to lay in bed all day either,” he snickers.

Bruce feels his eyes begin to get droopy. He is tired and that’s obvious. Tonight had been an event. It was confusing as well though and made Bruce question things about himself.  _ I don’t regret it.  _ He thinks to himself, staring at Clark’s lips.


	16. The First But Last Mission

“I’m not sure, we could go explore,” it’s then that Clark’s phone rings, Chloe’s contact showing on the screen, “It’s like 3 A.M? Give me a sec. Hello?” 

“Clark, you’re not gonna believe this,” Chloe says excitedly. 

“Trust me, there’s not a lot I won’t believe,” he retorts. 

“Someone saw Josh turn into a werewolf just a few hours ago, it’s crazy, he tore up some stores and almost attacked Tracy. She says he ran up towards Drac’s Hill,” she explains, “And well, I can’t ditch school, but I know you’re taking a sick day sooo, would you do me a favor and go investigate it?” 

“I knew he was a furry. How did you even know that? But yeah sure, we’ll do that. Goodnight, Chloe,” he’s a little confused but it looks like they just got something to do. 

“Awesome! Night, Clark!” she adds quickly before she hangs up. 

“I think the meteor rock got to some kid a grade under us, I’ve gotta fix it. The question is, will you come with me?” he asks Bruce.

“Why is she up at 3 AM? Anyway, yes, I would love to go seek a werewolf,” Bruce says casually as if this wasn’t something surprising to him. The two end up falling asleep and the next morning Bruce is awoken by Clark. “We had a day off… Why are we waking up this early?” He yawns, stretching.

He was always such a morning person, but Clark never seemed to be. Why on earth would Clark be waking him up this early? Yet, in a sense, Bruce was happy he did. Now the two would have more time together despite one day being left.

“I was thinking that the sooner we get this done, the better. The kid’s probably scared too,” he says as he’s putting his shirt on and putting a flannel over it, “So rise and shine buttercup!” Clark gives Bruce a grin, an amused look on his face. He’s already packed a backpack with some supplies since they’d be hiking quite a long way.

He lets Bruce get ready after giving him a kiss on the forehead. He heads downstairs to put everything into the truck after asking his parents if he can use it. 

“Be safe and get back before dinner...and in one piece, especially Bruce,” Martha says. 

“Come on, mom, it’ll be a piece of cake. I can handle it and so can he, we’ll be back soon. I promise,” he says before hugging her and going up to make sure Bruce was ready.

Bruce grunts slightly before getting ready. He quickly meets Clark at the staircase and comes downstairs with him. “Your mom is okay with this, right?” Bruce asked. He was slightly excited and anxious about the trip. He hadn’t even known this stuff existed until now.

The two arrive at the area they had to hike and start their journey. Bruce started to easily run up but paused and turned to face Clark, kissing him quickly and ruffling his hair before he continues to run up the mountain. It was becoming a fun experience and they just started it.

Clark is caught a bit off guard by the kiss, Bruce doesn’t even let him kiss back before he runs up after him. He chuckles softly when he notices Bruce trip on something since he wasn’t watching where he was going. “That’s called karma,” Clark teases after catching up with him, which wasn’t too hard to do. 

It was a particularly long hike, but Clark didn’t mind it since he was spending it with Bruce, that and it didn’t affect him or tire him out. “Last one to the top owes the other a coffee!” he yells before running past Bruce. He didn’t use his speed just to make it a little fairer.

“Clark, I’m a literal billionaire!” Bruce rolled his eyes but still ran after him, of course, he lost though. He’s panting once he reaches the top and glares at Clark. “There’s no way you’re that fast,” Bruce huffed. He noticed the view around them and slightly is spooked.

“So, how do we know he’s a good guy?” Bruce nervously asked. “He’s not going to just randomly attack us, right?” He knows Clark would most likely know the effects, but he wasn’t sure himself.

“I mean you already figured out the truth about me, why are you so surprised? He’s never caused any trouble, he just minds his business, but I’m guessing something pissed him off and there was meteor rock around. It kind of grants people the power to fulfill their greatest desires,” Clark explains, “Besides its still day out, werewolves don’t usually turn until the evening.” 

He looks around, there were plenty of places to hide in the dense forest area, Clark just didn’t know how to reverse the effects of the rocks. Usually, they sent people to the Metropolis hospital where they would simply flush the toxins out with IVs and stuff. “We have to find him and make sure he gets to the city.”

Bruce blinks rapidly but nods anyway. “Right… Clark, I was raised to become a businessman, not a werewolf hunter,” he sighs. “Clark, you’re the expert here, werewolves in myths were said to be normal during day and night they get werewolf-ey or whatever is an accurate statement, but this isn’t mythology. I’m positive that even if he’s a werewolf now or not that he’s still more human than a werewolf.”

“Aka he’d be in a reasonably nice abandoned rich ass lodge across the stream,” Bruce points to the building as if it was obvious. “Shall we?” He says a little more confidently and drags Clark by the hand towards the lodge. “So, do we burst in like Dean and Sam Winchester or what do you do?” 

Clark fiddles with the lock a little, “It’s locked but give me a second,” he manages to break the lock and open the door, “Barging in it is, it’s not like we weren’t going to get invited inside anyway.” The sun provides for some light so a flashlight isn’t necessary at the moment, “Josh? Dude, you here?” Clark says but gets no response. 

“Wait, right, he’s hiding, I’m not getting a response anytime soon,” he uses his x-ray vision to scan throughout the house and finds him hiding a couple of rooms away. “I found him, let’s go, he’s in the first room upstairs,” he takes Bruce’s hand and leads him upstairs as quietly as he can. 

When they get into the room they see Josh sitting in a corner, he seems scared and Clark thinks nothing of it until he goes up to him, “What happened to you? How did you get these abiliti-” He’s extending a hand for him to take, but that same feeling he gets when he’s near the meteor rocks hits him. He immediately feels dizzy, like he’s lost his balance. His stomach starts to hurt and he knows something’s wrong. 

“Where’s the meteor rock?” he asks Josh, but he can barely get out the words. 

“I’m not giving it to you, I can finally get revenge on the people who bullied me and you’re not taking that away. I just need to learn how to control it,” Josh frantically tries to explain. He doesn’t want to give it up. 

Bruce widens his eyes when Clark stumbles. His fear is slightly picking up but he’s trying so hard not to accidentally activate his abilities. “You don’t need to do this. Revenge against your bullies is a satisfaction we all wish to have, but it’s easier to just forget about it! If you hurt them then you’re no better than them. What are you going to do? Kill them? That’s even worse! Listen, I understand you’re scared and alone. There are people in that school who want to give you a chance in friendship but if you do this… It’s all worthless,” Bruce anxiously explains. 

“I-I… You may be right but you can’t make me give this rock up! What’s wrong with him anyway?! I’m not even doing anything to him,” Josh points out, looking at Clark.

“It’s the rock, Josh, it’s hurting him,” Bruce tries to explain.  _ It must be his weakness… I need to focus and throw that rock as far from Clark as I can. The kid is clearly overwhelmed and won’t listen to anyone.  _ ** _Concentrate. _ ** _ Please concentrate. Throw the rock out of the window.  _ ** _Throw it out of the window. _ ** _ Please work.  _ ** _Do it. _ ** Bruce’s eyes are closed as his hands clenched into fists. 

“What the fuck?!” Josh screeches when the rock flies out of his hand and out the window with a loud shattering of glass.

Clark begins to feel better almost instantly and goes to help Josh, “Were you hurt in any way? You have to come back to town, a rock isn’t gonna solve your problems, it’ll just cause chaos, especially that one. You made a mistake, but you can still redeem yourself,” he says to him. 


	17. Our First Goodbye

“Why does that rock make you sick?” Josh asks, and Clark freezes, he’s never wanted to explain this to anyone, he didn’t even know why this was the case either. 

“I don’t know. It has different effects on everyone, it’s not even from this planet,” he says, trying to divert the conversation, “You can’t tell anyone what happened, just go live your life.” He somehow convinces him to let them drive him back home.

“Weird things happen, Josh, you’ve just gotta accept them. Don’t get into any more trouble,” he warns as they wait at the boy’s driveway, “God, I sound like a dad.”

“Good old pops,” Bruce joked. He’s taken aback when Josh hugs him. 

“Thanks,” Josh mumbled before hugging Clark too. “Maybe we can be friends?” He asks, slightly hopeful.

“Consider us friends,” Bruce replies, smiling at him. It’s not long until the two of them are alone again. “Is he going to be okay? How is this going to work?” Bruce asked, looking up at Clark.

“The meteor rock is gone so he should be okay,” Clark says, “Everything should be fine, things like this happen around here a lot but they get fixed up pretty quickly. Nothing has truly gone haywire since Lex relocated to Metropolis again for a short while.” Come to think of it, the man did have a lot of enemies out there and he had somewhat caused some trouble for Smallville, but they were best friends, Clark didn’t see anything that he had done wrong. 

“We should head back. Do you want to grab a milkshake or anything before we go home? There’s a nice cafe in town,” he just wants to spend the most time with Bruce as possible before he has to go. He doesn’t want to think about it too much either, but the looming threat of him leaving the following day made Clark’s chest ache in a way it hadn’t before. He was afraid.

“Clark, I could never say no to you,” Bruce replied. “Of course we can go to the cafe. Then we better head home, it was already getting late and we still have to hike down.” Bruce felt the slight pain for knowing he was leaving the next day, but he tried hard not to focus on it. Despite that, he’d have to have fun.

He was still excited to spend more time with Clark, and him leaving had nothing to do with ruining his mood just yet.  _ I’m not gone yet,  _ Bruce thinks to himself. Tomorrow would be tough but right now it didn’t matter yet. It couldn’t matter yet.

“Sounds perfect,” Clark says before leaning down to give Bruce a kiss. He wanted to enjoy this as much as he could. They hike back down and get into the truck before heading back to town. It’s not too late but they did spend a lot of the day out. When they finally arrive at the café, Clark picks out a table for them and they’re quickly helped out by one of the waitresses. 

“Hey, Clark! Are you showing Bruce around town?” She’s someone Clark knows from school, so the conversation is easy, “What can I get you started with?” 

“We’re just making a quick pit-stop! I’ll just have what I normally get, thank you,” Clark says before looking over at Bruce, “You ready?” he asks. 

“I’ll just try your strawberry milkshake if that’s alright?” Bruce smiled politely at her.

“Of course!” She replied before turning around and leaving the two alone. 

She later comes back with the drinks in the to-go cups and the two head out towards the main street. Clark takes hold of Bruce’s free hand. He doesn’t lead them to the car straight away but instead has them walk over to the more private walkways on the block. He soon realizes that they’re in the same alley they were when he realized that he wanted to truly kiss Bruce for the first time. 

“Do you remember, you were so excited in the way you were talking about the movie that you didn’t even realize that you were a mere few inches from me. I think it was the first time I realized that I truly felt something for you,” he says softly. He’s quite fond of the moment despite him chickening out and only reaching to touch Bruce’s cheek for a moment. 

Bruce looks up at him, his grin turning into a slight frown. “I remember… I was taken aback by how blue your eyes were that I caught myself staring into them. I didn’t know why back then. I didn’t truly understand what crushing on someone even felt like.” Bruce pauses, looking down. “When you touched my cheek, it was the first time that I felt like I could trust someone else. You could’ve taken advantage of my starstruck moment and kissed me when I wasn’t ready, but you didn’t.”

“I’m forever thankful you didn’t rush me,” Bruce whispers. His eyes are still locked onto Clark’s which are giving him full attention. He’d never suspect how much he’d miss someone, but the more he spent with Clark made him understand. Clark was beyond good and Bruce was happy he made the attempts of understanding him, and not simply judging him. 

“You’ve brought so much good into my life. You can’t even imagine how much,” Clark scans Bruce’s face, his eyes lingering on his lips before he leans down to kiss him properly. He could finally do this without fear of going too fast. He was just grateful for Bruce’s presence, for him having understood him and not have hated him when the rest of his friends did. 

He kisses him deeply, it’s not a sad kiss like the ones they shared the evening prior though. It was full of admiration and feeling. It displayed just how much Clark loved him, he didn’t need words to show it. Clark was living in the moment, his hand on Bruce’s cheek once more, his heart pounding in excitement. This was what Clark had never thought he needed, it was something he never thought he’d get.

Bruce anxiously returns the kiss. In a way, he can understand how Clark is feeling. Clark would lose him and Bruce would lose Clark. It’s nothing he wanted to experience but it would have to happen. He knew from the beginning he could never stay with Clark. His eyes flutter closed as he tilts his head slightly to also deepen the kiss.

He feels a lump in his throat and chokes out a slight sob. He hated how any affection from Clark ended in him crying. What else could he do though? The pain in his chest was pounding in him with his excitement. It was hard to just ignore that feeling. After a moment, Bruce pulls away from the kiss. “W-we should probably head back to your house.”

Immediately the dreaded notion that Bruce was leaving soon returned. He was almost upset at himself for letting this happen, but he wouldn’t trade it for the world. This was something they couldn’t change, but the time they spent together was enough to help Clark grow and experience. He just didn’t think he’d be able to lose the love he had for Bruce. 

“We can do that,” his tone is understanding, he’s not upset with him for doing this. He understands that it’s painful, in a way they were going through this together despite the fact that they felt as if they were suffering alone. They walk back to the truck, Clark’s arm around Bruce’s shoulders as he holds him close. Every bit of contact, he savored. “I’m going to miss you,” he chokes out, a knot forming in his throat.

“You know I’ll miss you just as much,” Bruce mumbled, trying not to cry again. The two end up heading home, sharing a few more conversations with Martha and Jonathan. The day ends with them falling asleep tightly in one another's arms. Bruce was woken up by Martha bright and early and she gets Clark up too. Bruce packs his things together and Clark assists taking them down.

Martha waits in the car as Jonathan and Clark walk with Bruce towards it. Jonathan pulls Bruce into a tight hug. “We’re gonna miss you,” Jonathan sighs before pulling away. “Clark especially.”

Bruce spares him a sad smile. “I’ll miss you too, Mr. Kent,” he turns to slowly face Clark. The moment he looks up at him, he starts to cry. “Fuck,” he curses, trying to wipe away his tears but more kept pouring down his face. “When I came here, I thought I’d be alone and experiencing a living hell, but you made it so much more than that. You made it a literal eye-opener for me that I don’t need to be alone. Thanks to you, Clark, I’ll be going to public school in Gotham too... “ He can’t even continue his words without sobbing louder.

Clark has been trying to hold back his tears and remain strong just for Bruce, but at this point, his words have made him feel a rush of emotions. He’s proud of him and he’s glad he had some sort of impact aside from bad memories from the fake dating ploy. He reaches out to Bruce and wraps him in his arms tightly. He doesn’t want to let him go. 

“Thank  _ you _ , Bruce,” Clark whispers, the tears are rolling down his cheeks and he’s not sure they’ll stop anytime soon. He knows that words will only cause more pain, but the goodbye isn’t meant to be nice. It hurts at the moment and it’ll hurt more when they actually part ways, “I’m so proud of you.” 

Jonathan pats Clark’s back, “I’ll give you some time,” he says before going back into the house. Martha is waiting in the car but she seems to be entertained by her facebook feed for a moment. 

“I won’t forget you, “ he says through a sob, he doesn’t want to forget Bruce and he doesn’t think he can. He gives Bruce one last bittersweet and painful kiss before it’s time for him to go. Martha calls him over and Bruce gets into the car. Jonathan comes back outside and stands with Clark as they give their last goodbyes. 

"I'll never forget you, Clark!" Bruce yelled from the car.

“Don’t get into any trouble,” Martha also says to them. Clark simply nods in understanding, he can’t bear to watch and yet he does. He watches as his mother drives off with his first love, with the one person who understood him better than anyone and it’s the first time Clark experiences heartbreak. It’s a bittersweet feeling given that Bruce didn’t do anything wrong, he had no one to blame but the circumstances. 

Bruce breaks into tears when they drive away. He covers his eyes as he tries to conceal his emotions. Martha reaches over to gently squeeze his shoulder which makes Bruce cry more. Clark was the most charismatic person to enter his world. Bruce felt things he never knew existed with Clark. He'd never forget him... Not ever.


	18. The Way We Changed

He returned to school as normal and eventually junior year ended. He couldn’t shake the longing for Bruce off, he tried to move on, he even dated Lana for some time, but she would never truly understand Clark the way Bruce did and so they broke it off that summer. 

It was around the first few weeks of senior year that Clark finally heard from Bruce again, it had been almost a year since they met and the TV was on in the background while he did some homework. A talk show comes on and Clark hears a familiar voice come on screen. 

_ “Hello, today we have with us the CEO of Wayne Enterprises. He’s only eighteen but he’s doing better than most of us! Tell me Bruce, the first question that your fans have for you… How does it feel to be a young billionaire?” _

_ “I guess it feels pretty normal. You’re accustomed to it that you wouldn’t even think about it. I’ve been a billionaire since I was a child and I never really thought of it,” Bruce crosses his legs over one another in his sitting position.  _

_ “Ah, that’s very true. Now, most of your fans have wondered if you have a special someone in your life? Or have you had one?”  _

_ Bruce seems to pause at the question but automatically spares a fake smile. “I think we all have, Jimmy,” he sounds slightly sad. “But to answer your question, yes, I have once. Not right now currently and probably not for a while.” _

_ “Is there any particular reason why?”  _

_ “Yeah, sometimes you don’t want to forget the person who holds your heart. It takes a while to get over them. I’m not trying to rush it,” Bruce awkwardly shifts in his seat. _

_ “A lot of people are wondering if you are Lex Luthor are a possibility in the future? On your Twitter, Lex has been tweeting flirtations to your selfies. Have you noticed them?”  _

_ “To be honest, I don’t really look on my Twitter. I’m flattered that he’s complimenting me,” Bruce looks away. “I-I don’t really think any relationship is a possibility for me at the moment. It’s just not something I am interested in.”  _

_ “I see,” the interviewer pauses. “Fans also have one last question for you… How do you remain so pure? You were caught running across the street to hug a fan. What do you have to say to that?” _

_ “I adore my fans. They support my business. I have to show appreciation for you all,” Bruce looks at the camera and blows a fake kiss towards them. “Even if you guys make weird fanfiction with me… I still don’t grasp the Y/N concept. Also, no I am not dating Peter Parker.” _

_ “Alright, Mr. Wayne, thank you so much for joining us!” Jimmy reaches out to shake his hand. Bruce awkwardly returns it before it cuts to commercials.  _

Clark wasn’t paying attention to the talk show host until he heard the name Bruce Wayne come from the television speakers. He looks up to see him walk on screen, waving at the live audience behind the camera. He hasn’t seen or heard from him in a year but the feelings all come rushing back the moment he starts to speak. 

He’s taken aback by the question the interviewer asks, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary for a show like this. Bruce’s answer is something he doesn’t expect and it only makes watching this interview far more painful, but he can’t take his eyes off the screen. He knew that he was talking about him, even this long after they parted ways, it seemed like he was longing for something too. 

He notices that although he’s trying to remain positive for the video, Bruce still seems somewhat sad. He can only imagine that the time period this interview fell on is affecting him too. Somehow, it’s reassuring to see him, he truly wasn’t alone. He continues to watch the interview and for some reason, Lex’s name comes up. Clark had cut ties with him over the summer as well, he had moved back to Metropolis for good and ended up on bad terms with the Kents. He had a bit of a vendetta for Clark and hearing him blatantly chase after Bruce only pissed Clark off. 

He only kept watching for Bruce, his lingering feelings causing him to cry.  _ He missed him so badly.  _ The interview soon ended and Clark headed into the kitchen for dinner, the rest of the evening went by quickly and Clark was up and ready for school the following day. 

During lunchtime, Chloe excitedly sits down and pulls out her phone, “So there was a new Bruce Wayne interview on Jimmy Kimmel yesterday! Did you guys see it? He seemed so sad though, I wonder who he was talking about,” she says. She had picked up an obsession with Bruce and somehow had forgotten that they were almost friends at one point. 

Clark’s mood does a complete 180, he didn’t think he’d have to deal with this at school too. “Yeah, I hope he’s okay,” he’s simply attempting to appease Chloe despite not really wanting to talk about the subject. 

“What’s up with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Chloe says before pulling up Instagram, “Look, my favorite account made an edit again. He’s always so goofy in interviews so yesterday’s was just weird.” 

Lana rolls her eyes at the two, she had agreed to be friends with Clark after their relationship failed but the thought of Bruce was still irritating to her. She blamed him for Clark not wanting her anymore. “They’re really talented, Chloe. If you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna head to the library. I have a project to finish. I’ll see you guys later,” Clark says before standing up and leaving the cafeteria. He was being reminded of Bruce everywhere he went and it hurt that he couldn’t be with him. 

Clark would constantly see Bruce on screen, he had to attempt to move on and live. He dated a girl named Lois for some time, he thought he’d end up marrying her, but things didn’t quite work out. He went to college for a year to try and become a journalist but had to drop out since he couldn’t afford it any longer. He had moved to Metropolis and was living in an old apartment complex and working at a diner a few blocks down. He was simply living to make ends meet since he left home. Life really wasn’t the dream he pictured. 

He was cleaning up the counter up front and talking to one of the regular customers the diner had when his boss walked up to him, “Clark, what did I fucking tell you about the dishes in the back? I said not to let them pile up,” he complains and Clark gives him an apologetic look. 

“I’m sorry sir, it’s just Meg doesn’t start her shift until one and I’m the only one here, for now, I was helping out the customers, but I’ll get to them,” Clark apologizes as he starts heading to the back. He’s stopped when the bell indicating that someone has entered the diner rings, “I’ll just help these guys out, don’t worry, sir,” he says before heading over to the table the two have picked. 

“Hi, I’m Clark, I’ll be your waiter for today what can I get you started wi-” he does his usual greeting as he hands them the menus, but when he actually gets a good look at the two men, he freezes. He doesn’t know what to do. 

“I’m sorry is there a problem?” Lex says, not looking up from the menu, he doesn’t notice that it’s Clark at first. 

“N-no there’s no problem. What can I get you?” he finishes up but he can’t take his eyes off the male with Lex. He hadn’t seen him in so long, it almost felt like a dream. He doesn’t want to say anything, he feels that if he does he’ll wake up and never see him again except for magazines and television screens. 

“I’ll have a coffee, black,” Lex says, “Make it quick, we’ve got business to attend to.” 

“What about you?” he says to Bruce, he’s almost afraid he’ll mess up, it’s been so long.

Bruce and Lex had soon gotten together a few years after that interview he had. It wasn’t something he liked to think about and sometimes he thought it was a mistake. Bruce didn’t truly love Lex at all but he felt stuck with him. Lex would constantly keep him wrapped around his finger with his manipulative tactics, that he was simply slightly afraid of him. The two decided to head to the diner that they were driving by, simply because Bruce wanted to have a laid back experience for once.

Lex was hesitant but still agreed. Once they sat, Bruce noticed Lex being slightly rude for no apparent reason. He winces when hearing a familiar voice ask him for his order, and he slowly looks up from the menu to lock eyes with…  _ Clark.  _ Bruce’s eyes were glued to him for a second. Lex seemed to have noticed too with how his entire expression changed to something he’s never seen before. Bruce has a look of shock mixed with heartache. He’s trying not to cry right then and there. “I… I’ll have a frappe, caramel please,” Bruce whispers, looking away.  _ I’m sorry. _


	19. Reunion

“Maybe if he stopped fucking staring at us and actually got our orders written down, we’d be out of here. This place is absolutely disgusting, and the waiter looks even worse,” Lex criticizes.  
Bruce looks up at Lex when hearing that. “That was unnecessary,” Bruce speaks up. Lex glares at him, but Bruce doesn’t cower away. “You don’t have to be so rude. He’s only doing his job. I don’t find this place disgusting either. I find it quiet and homie. We’ll take our order to go,” Bruce decides, his eyes still lingering on Clark as if he wants to say something else but can’t. When Clark returns with the order, he spares one last look towards him. His expression changed to a look of sadness before walking off with Luthor.

It’s not until next Monday that Bruce ends up around that area of Metropolis for a job meeting again. He notices Clark getting out of his truck to go to the diner and almost debates going up to him. Bruce takes a shaky breath before looking at his limo that was waiting, then at Clark. His eyes furrow for a moment. “Clark!” His voice tumbles out without hesitation. The limo driver seems pissed off, but Bruce doesn’t even look back before he runs up to him. “Is… Is it really you?” His eyes are already glossy as they start to tear up.

Clark doesn’t have to clock in for another half hour, but he’s always early since his boss can be a pain in the ass. He’s grabbing his backpack out of the passenger’s side when he hears that familiar voice calls his name. Bruce. He turns around to see him approaching and gives him a smile, he doesn’t even have to force it for him. He can feel the weight lifting off his shoulders and everything just seems right. Bruce was the only person who could make him feel like that.

“Unless I’m one of those fancy new holograms, yeah, it’s me. Did you really just blow off your limo driver for this deadbeat?” he tries to joke to make the situation a little less sad. He doesn’t want this to hurt as bad as it does. “You look good,” he can’t seem to find the right words, but he also can’t stop staring at Bruce with that wistful and longing look. The latter has grown up quite a lot, but he’s still just as attractive as when Clark had met him if not more.

"My limo driver is nothing compared to you; besides, I can afford to skip this meeting. Also, thank you, you look… Tired,” Bruce realizes. “Oh, Clark, what happened? If it’s not too personal… You don’t look like you’re doing well. I’d like to also apologize on behalf of Lex. He’s such an asshole sometimes. I don’t even know why I bother with dating him. It’s mostly just something I’m forced into by the public.”

He wasn’t lying when he said this. Bruce would gladly be single if he wasn’t forced by the expectations of people to keep up his ‘happy’ relationship with Luthor. He wasn’t even in love with the man. It would’ve been different if Lex was kind towards him, but he wasn’t. He treated Bruce terribly and it wasn’t like Bruce would gain feelings for someone like that. His heart ached with the same feeling he had for Clark back when they were teens.

“Lex and I didn’t really leave our friendship on the best terms. He got tired of me, I guess, and left Smallville. After you left things weren’t really that great either, Lana tried getting me to date her again and I felt bad, so I accepted. She really wasn’t the best girlfriend if I’m being honest. I wanted to be a reporter, but I couldn’t afford school anymore and had to drop out and now I work here. It’s shit by the way, but it helps make money. I was almost engaged to this girl that interned at the Daily Planet, but she left me for some hotshot. So I guess we’re both kind of unlucky in that department,” Clark says to Bruce, it was just easy to talk to him. He knew that he wouldn’t judge or criticize him for what had happened.

“I was wondering why you would bother with someone like Lex. The guy’s an asshole, he’s got a way of making things go the way he wants them. You’re too good for him, Bruce,” he’s angry, he knows there has to be an underlying reason that Lex would want Bruce. He’s not the kind of person that keeps people around for love and the thought of him being used like that pains Clark.

Bruce stares at him for a moment before sighing. “I’m sorry to hear all of that. Why didn’t you contact me? You know I would’ve assisted in helping you get through your college fees. You shouldn’t have to go through that… I’m sorry your relationships didn’t work out,” he looks down, his lip twitches slightly. “I can’t believe I didn’t know any of this. I wanted to get in contact with you… I really did… Just so much happened and it’s no excuse.”

“Listen, I’d love to keep catching up but apparently this meeting is actually more important than I thought. Lucius won’t stop texting me to go, but… I remember everything, Clark. I remember every moment just like it was yesterday,” Bruce says softly. He hears a limo honk its horn before giving him one last look before turning towards the limo and going towards it. Bruce stops for a moment though. “Come by Wayne manor around 6 PM, alright? I’ll make sure Alfred knows to let you in.”

“It was nice seeing you, I’ll be there,” Clark says before Bruce runs off. Despite having to go to his shitty job he’s happy, he’s certain that not even his asshole boss can fuck up the high he got from talking to Bruce once more. The shift is particularly normal, he’s yelled at a couple of times and he tries not to snap, but 6 PM is taunting him. He finally clocks out and drives toward Wayne manor, he’s nervous, to say the least. He doesn’t know exactly what he can and can’t do, things are different and although Lex isn’t the best person, Clark morally can’t do what he wishes.

He finally arrives at the mansion and is immediately let in once Alfred confirms that it’s him. The man is respectable, and he can see why Bruce turned out the way he did. He was raised with manners and morals by a man he cared for very deeply. “Master Wayne, I believe there is someone here to see you,” Alfred says after he leads Clark up to the study.

“I know we saw each other this morning, but it feels like it’s been forever,” Clark says as he walks in, “I don’t think I got the chance to ask how you were.”

Bruce automatically lights up when seeing Clark. He stands up and organizes the papers on his desk. “Thank you, Alfred,” Bruce replies which earns him a respected nod. Bruce pauses when Clark starts to talk to him, “I’ve been alright. I’m just thrilled to see you. You don’t have to look so tense, by the way. I’m alright with hugging you again,” he teases. Despite popular beliefs, Bruce struggled just as much as anyone else.  


He was forced into a role where he couldn’t truly appear sad or he’d be questioned and interrogated. Clark made the weight of the world leave his shoulders easily. Bruce can still see Clark stiff, so he walks over to him and pulls him into a tight hug. One that expresses that he truly missed Clark. It was almost as if the time apart wasn’t as painful as he thought it would be. The reunion between the two made Bruce feel truly happier.

Clark immediately relaxes after this, he hugs Bruce tightly, his heart pounding in his chest. This doesn’t feel any different from when they were in high school. It was a while before Clark pulled away. “I’m sorry for not reaching out, you just always seemed so busy. Actually I did call once, to tell you that I had gotten into the English program at the university in Metropolis, but an assistant answered and said they would forward the message. I’m guessing it never went through,” he admits.

He wondered what would have happened if they had talked about that day. Would Bruce be with Luthor now? “But hey, it’s not your fault, so all that stuff, don’t feel bad about it. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger or however, you say that. I’m just glad to see you again,” he explains since he hadn’t gotten the chance back at the diner.

“I can’t believe they never told me you called. I’m so mad… I tried to contact your parents as well, but I think you guys must’ve changed your landline number. Alfred suggested driving by, but business meetings came up and I just never could. Besides, we assumed you wouldn’t be there because of your graduation pictures on Instagram,” Bruce explained.

“I’m really glad to see you, Clark,” Bruce smiled. It was a genuine one that had meaning to it. One would even call it a loving smile. Bruce was thrilled to be at Clark’s presence. “Other than our progressions in life… Have you been feeling okay? You haven’t really told me. You’ve just mentioned your backstory and all.”

“I’m getting by, it all took its toll. I wish I could be helping people, living the life I wanted and helping my mom out more, but I’m alright,” He smiles, “Just tired of it all.” He’s a little quieter when he says that, but he doesn’t let it linger for too long.

“I’m better now that I get to spend some time with you, call me crazy, but you still don’t fail to make my day better,” he didn’t know their status, but then again they never seemed to have one. Despite this, he felt the same aura the two shared years ago. The atmosphere was relaxed, and it felt like coming home. Clark felt as if everything was complete once more.


	20. I Can't Handle Change

Bruce’s smile widens when hearing Clark say that. “Clark, I—,” he’s interrupted when he hears the study door open. “Luthor?”

“What’s going on here? Why on earth is he here? Do you perhaps know each other personally?” Lex side-eyes Clark for a moment.

“Yes, actually,” Bruce replies. “Why did you come unannounced? That’s unbelievably rude, Lex.”

“I didn’t know boyfriends needed permission,” Lex hissed.

“You're acting as if you own the manor, this is my private home. You have the title of being my boyfriend doesn’t mean you can barge in here uninvited,” Bruce states calmly.

“So, if I was this _disgusting _creature who decided plaid was still a trend, would you let me come in unannounced?” 

Bruce takes a deep breath. “Luthor…”

“Answer me,” Lex demanded.

Bruce looks back at Clark for a moment before back at Luthor. “Don’t you dare make this into some petty dispute.”

“You’re supposed to be my _boyfriend. _How dare you be a cheating scum?! Wait until everyone finds out about this,” Lex threatens.

Bruce clenches his fist when hearing this. “I am not… A cheater.”

“Then explain the garbage!”

Bruce’s fists tighten as he squeezes his eyes closed, biting his lip to keep back words. “Explain, Bruce!”

“He’s someone better than you!” Bruce finally yelled, anger rising in his voice. “Why are you even patronizing me?! All you’ve done is manipulate and control me!” Bruce is getting angrier by the second, it’s not long until books from the shelves start to fly off. “You’ve convinced me for years to listen to you, to trust you! All you’ve done is treat me like shit! When you found out I had powers, you weren’t even empathetic! You _slapped _me!” Bruce's voice is shaking with anger. 

“C-calm down,” Luthor demands, his eyes widening when seeing books start to fly around at rapid speeds.

“Bruce, he’s not worth it. He’s not worth the stress and anger,” Clark quickly jumps in, there was no way Lex was fixing this, “Look at me, focus on me. I know you’re upset; you don’t deserve what he’s done, but this isn’t going to solve anything.” His heart aches for Bruce, he wants to absolutely let him give Lex a taste of his own medicine, but it wasn’t the way things should be done. He knew Bruce wouldn’t want things to go in that direction.

“You should leave,” he tells the other man, it was clear that Bruce didn’t want him there. He doesn’t waste another second on him, though, he turns back to Bruce as he tries to get him to concentrate on controlling his powers. _It was just like back then. _None of Lex’s insults toward him really mattered, he knew the kind of person he was, and he didn’t have time to be wasting with him. The only person he cared about was Bruce.

Lex doesn’t hesitate to leave, already being on edge. Bruce, however, instantly calms when hearing Clark’s voice. It’s almost an instant reminder to the past. Bruce settles himself fully once Lex leaves and turns to look at Clark. “I wasn’t going to hurt him. I wasn’t fully out of control. Sure, I was angry, but I’ve learned how to use my powers in the span of six years,” Bruce explains. “I mostly just wanted to scare him.”

“Why do I put up with him?” Bruce sighs, rubbing his face. “I’m sorry you had to see that. It’s been a while since I’ve scared him off. I don’t use my powers really. He’s put into my head that they’re not good. Besides, I’ve never truly been a fan of them,” Bruce mumbled, looking down. “I’m sorry once again… It was a bad idea to have invited you here or into my life. Sometimes things just aren’t supposed to happen.”

“Bruce…” Clark says to grab his attention before reaching to caress his cheek. He gazes at his face, taking him in, his eyes lingering on his lips for a moment before he leans down to close the space between them. There had been too large a gap for so long, he couldn’t bear it anymore. Seeing the way Bruce had been treated in the years since they parted hurt. 

He shouldn’t have been doing this, Bruce was technically still in a relationship; but it felt so right. He didn’t care about what anyone else would think and he just hoped that for a moment, just a moment Bruce would feel the same. It was a private moment; it was something only the two would share for now. Clark just wished they could have _more. _

Bruce is caught off guard when Clark kisses him. His eyes widen as he processes what is happening. It was slightly humorous; Bruce’s finger was hovering on the send button on his phone. It was a breakup message to Lex, and the moment Clark kisses him, he sends it. Bruce's eyes flutter closed before he reaches up to entangle his hands in Clark’s curls to tug him down. 

It was all familiar for him as if none of it was a shocker for him. Every feeling was returned instantly and radiated clearly in his heart. To the point that he felt an overwhelming amount of excitement and joy. This was what Bruce knew he had missed. He made a promise that he’d never forget Clark, and he kept it. Bruce deepens the kiss between them, ignoring his phone buzzing with texts from Lex.

Clark didn’t know if Bruce would return it since it had been so long, but despite that their connection seemed to be just as strong. He had craved this for years and the chance was given to him once more. Maybe some things were really meant to happen, and he wasn’t complaining about this one. Bruce eventually pulls away for air and Clark is almost taken aback. This was the most alive he had felt in years. 

“I missed you,” he simply manages to say, “I missed this, I missed us. I missed how you made everything feel right no matter the circumstance.” People didn’t get second chances often, Clark almost felt as if this wasn’t real, it seemed too good to be real. He knew that he didn’t really need words to express it, but there was too much to cover.

“I’ve missed you so much,” Bruce whispers softly, looking up at him. “You’re just the person I need in my life again. I can never forget you, Clark. Despite what you may believe. My heart has always belonged to you and that will never change until you break it,” Bruce admitted. He doesn’t hesitate to kiss Clark again.

He’s beyond happy to be with Clark. He couldn’t even explain how happy he was. Bruce pulls back from the kiss and rests his head on Clark’s chest. “You’ve gotten taller… How unfair,” Bruce mumbled. He was only 5’10, but it seemed like Clark was an utter giant compared to him. Must be the alien genes.

“Well, I hope I don’t do that,” Clark says as he rests his chin at the top of Bruce’s hair, “I think I’ve stopped growing, so, don’t worry, you have time to catch up...maybe.” He’s teasing him, he just likes to see Bruce act casual and have a little fun. His interviews would only give hints at that persona, but Clark knew there was so much more to him than that. It was probably odd that he had managed to keep up with him, Chloe would invite him over when Bruce would be on TV. She also almost convinced him to go to a red carpet with her once to see Bruce, but Clark didn’t think he would be able to take it. 

“You know, I literally couldn’t go anywhere in Metropolis without seeing your face? Literally, you’re everywhere, not that I mind, but wow. You really did make it big after you left the cornfields,” he jokes. He was glad that they were being affectionate though, the warmth coming from Bruce was something he longed for.

Bruce pulls back after a moment before sparing a smile at his tease. “I’m glad to know you haven’t changed in terms of teasing me. Clark, but anything romantic to do with me is a bad decision right now. You will be harassed by teenage girls and treated terribly. The media liked Luthor and I together simply because he was rich enough to hire security guards. I hope you understand,” Bruce explains.

It wasn’t that Bruce didn’t want a romantic relationship with Clark, or that he had just broken up with Lex. It was simply because he was afraid of what would happen to Clark. Bruce knew better than to hurt the people he loved. Anybody he was closed to, ended up being harassed or more. This was why Bruce kept away from his friends. 

“They don’t have to know,” Clark says, “And we really don’t have to put a label on anything as long as we can still see each other. Anything is better than the time we spent apart.” They had never really felt the need to come out as a couple to anyone, nor did they need to be labeled as such. Their relationship was just something that came naturally like it had been waiting for them since they were placed on Earth. 

“Or we can just not. It’s your choice, I don’t want to put pressure on you. I know that it’s difficult as it is,” he adds. He knows there’s a lot to consider here but walking out of Bruce’s life can’t be an option for him. He had already lost him once. With Bruce in his life, even his shitty job seemed tolerable.

“You’re so hopeful, Clark… Of course, we can continue to see each other. Nothing is going to change that ever again. You’re so important to me and I just can’t bear to lose you, Clark.” Bruce moves away from him, sighing, “But I can’t be with you like this. A lot has changed, Clark, I’m not as free as I used to be. Everything I do jeopardizes my entire life. We’ll see each other again. Alfred, if you’d so kindly escort our guest out,” Bruce looks almost heartbroken to hear those words. 

After Clark is escorted, Alfred comes back. “Mr. Luthor is at the door, sir, do you want to speak to him?”

“I have no choice,” Bruce spares a fake smile. Lex soon comes in, staring daggers at him. “Why are you back?”

“What do you mean? I think you forgot who you were dealing with, Bruce. I’m Lex Luthor, the smartest man you can think of currently living at this very moment. Bruce, you forget about that man. I swear you’ll regret not listening to this warning."

“And if I don’t?” Bruce narrows his eyes.

“I tell everyone about Clark’s powers and yours. You really must have not known but… Clark and I were once the best of friends. Brothers per se, but times change. If you let this relationship go, he’ll end up a damned science experiment.” 

Bruce’s breath hitches at this, his eyes widening. “You can’t tell anyone about him!”

“Aw, you’re so loyal to him that you don’t even care about your own sake.”

“My powers mean nothing to me. He means more than them. He’ll always matter more than my own self,” Bruce whispers the last part. “I love him quite a lot, Lex, why can’t you understand? I’ve waited six years to see him again!”

“I don’t care,” Lex grunts. “You can’t even be seen with him.”

“L-Lex,” Bruce chokes out, “I can’t just forget him. I just saw him again. Y-you can’t make me do this.”

“Mr. Luthor, If I may interject. You have no right to threaten Master Wayne. It’s clear your presence is upsetting him. So, I kindly ask you to leave or the law will be involved… The law meaning my shotgun,” Alfred threatens.

“Decide, Bruce, do you agree to stay away from him and take me back as your ‘boyfriend’?” Lex narrowed his eyes.

Bruce can’t help but hug himself and let out a soft whimper that almost breaks into a cry. He feels his eyes returning glossy.

_I’ll never forget you, Clark._

_ I don’t want to leave. _

_I’ll miss you so much. _

_I’m forever thankful you didn’t rush me. _

_Clark, I could never say no to you._

** _I don’t regret it._ **

“Okay, Lex, you win,” Bruce finally says. A small smirk slowly appears on Lex's face. 

“I’ve always had a way of taking everything from Clark. Yet again, I’ve taken another thing from him... The most precious thing of all... _Bruce Wayne."_


End file.
